Former MI National Guard member arrested over plan to attack Army base for ISIS

WARREN, Mich. (TNND) — A former member of the Michigan Army National Guard was arrested Wednesday over allegations he tried to carry out a large-scale attack at a U.S. military base on behalf of ISIS.

Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, a 19-year-old from a city outside Detroit, was taken into custody shortly after conducting drone surveillance of the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) facility in Warren, Michigan, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Said allegedly planned to surveil the facility before carrying out a shooting, which he believed to be at the direction of ISIS, that would result in the deaths of many Americans there.

“This defendant is charged with planning a deadly attack on a U.S. military base here at home for ISIS,” Sue Bai, head of the DOJ’s National Security Division, said in a press release. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, we foiled the attack before lives were lost.”

The DOJ accused Said of trying to use a drone to surveil TACOM before using guns and Molotov cocktails to kill people at the facility. During the planning, undercover members of the FBI appeared as ISIS supporters and indicated to Said they would carry out the attack for the terrorist group. Said in turn helped them further the plan, according to the DOJ.

“ISIS is a brutal terrorist organization which seeks to kill Americans. Helping ISIS or any other terrorist organization prepare or carry out acts of violence is not only a reprehensible crime – it is a threat to our entire nation and way of life,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. for the Eastern District of Michigan said. “Our office will not tolerate such crimes or threats, and we will use the full weight of the law against anyone who engages in terrorism.”

Said allegedly suggested to one of the undercover FBI members they throw a Molotov cocktail in one of TACOM’s buildings to start a brief fire before shooting people as they tried to flee. Said also noted that using armor-piercing bullets would help kill law enforcement responding to the attack since they would have worn bulletproof vests, the DOJ said.

During a discussion of the plan, the DOJ added, Said trained the undercover members on contingencies as well, like guns jamming.

“The arrest of this former soldier is a sobering reminder of the importance of our counterintelligence efforts to identify and disrupt those who would seek to harm our nation,” Brig. Gen. Rhett Cox, commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command, said in the press release.

The National News Desk requested comment from Said’s legal representation Friday before 3 p.m. but did not hear back by the time the outlet published this article.

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