The FBI says it stopped a possible terrorist attack in Houston

Federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that they stopped a Texas man from carrying out a possible terrorist attack in Houston.

“Any day we can publicly say that is a good day,” the FBI’s Houston field office said on social media.

Anas Said, 28, was charged last month with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Texas.

Said was arrested last week at the Houston apartment complex where he is alleged to have planned the attack, said the FBI, which accused him of bragging that he would commit “a 9/11-style” attack if he had the resources.

Said is alleged to have told federal agents that he created propaganda for the terrorist group, considered attacking members of the U.S. military and discussed researching the locations and physical layouts of synagogues and the Israeli Consulate in Houston, federal court documents show.

Said sought to understand the security measures at those sites and “openly acknowledged that he wants to fight against and kill proponents of Israel,” the documents allege.

According to a detention memo filed in the case, Said had been posting pro-ISIS messages or buying its propaganda since 2017.

Federal agents interviewed numerous times about his desire to travel to Lebanon, where he is from, and his “affinity” for Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a former ISIS spokesperson, according to the documents.

When the FBI interviewed him in March 2019, the documents say, Said told it that he no longer consumed radical Islamic propaganda and that he used the internet only for schoolwork and sports.

But, the documents say, federal agents discovered recently that he continued to use Facebook accounts and encrypted messaging applications to create and disseminate propaganda that glorified ISIS violence.

Said initially refused to comply with law enforcement agents after he was arrested Friday but later detailed his support for the terrorist group, the detention memo alleges.

“He tried several times to travel to join ISIS and stated he would readily move back to Lebanon if he were released,” the documents say.

Said is also alleged to have told federal agents that he’d ask members of the military whom he’d see near his work whether they supported Israel, whether they’d been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq and whether they’d killed Muslims.

“If they said yes, those are the persons he would kill,” the documents say.

In an email, a lawyer for Said said he is focusing on the allegation that his client provided material support by producing videos and propaganda for ISIS. 

“Despite allegations that my client made statements to government agents regarding proposed terrorist acts, the indictment does not currently allege any planning, or acts, of terrorism,” said the lawyer, Baldemar Zuniga. “This appears to be a lengthy investigation and it will take some time to sift through all of the evidence.”