Anti-Christian New Jersey Man Suspected of Planning ISIS-Inspired New York Bombing Arrested by FBI
Another man in the tri-state area with alleged ties to terrorist group ISIS was arrested during a raid of his New Jersey home on Thursday, and he's accused of conspiring with at least one of the other men apprehended in New York City this week in the same investigation.
Fort Lee resident Samuel Rahamin Topaz, 21, appeared before a federal court Thursday on material support for terror charges and is being held without bail, according to NBC.
Topaz allegedly conspired with Queens college student Munther Omar Saleh, 20, who was arrested this past weekend, to build and detonate a bomb in New York City in the name of ISIS.
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Like Saleh, Topaz had also planned to travel overseas to join ISIS and discussed his plans with three other Americans who were not named in the criminal complaint.
The documents also revealed that Topaz watched ISIS videos with co-conspirators and held meetings with other suspects, including one near the World Trade Center site.
Topaz is now facing up-to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the criminal complaint.
Topaz, who appeared on social media dressed as an ISIS fighter, told authorities he sympathized with ISIS and admitted to speaking with three others about wanting to join the terrorist group.
His latest Facebook post revealed that he planned to stay off all social media except Snapchat until he left the U.S., and even shared his thoughts on Christianity.
"God exists, has (sic) always and will always, and is only one, and never had a son. People can have their arguments, and I would like to hear them because it's always interesting to hear people's arguments for there not being a god or there being a cosmic force that no one knows about and yada yada," wrote Topaz on April 25. "I'm just saying god is real and he does answer prayer but maybe you don't know how to reach God the right way."
Staten Island resident Fareed Mumuni, who was also arrested in this ISIS-related investigation, charged at FBI agents with a knife as they raided his home. No one was injured in the scuffle.
Mumuni told authorities that he had pledged allegiance to ISIS and was planning a trip overseas to join the group. He also confessed to conspiring with Saleh to make a pressure cooker bomb for the attack on New York.
Mumuni was a College of Staten Island student studying to be a social worker. He is being held without bail. His uncle, Mohammed Alfonga, claims Mumuni is innocent.
"It's true he pulled a knife on cops," he said. "You think he'd be alive if he did that? They would have shot him in the living."
Alfonga said Mumuni might have been mixed up in the wrong crowd.
"The other guys said he's involved, they have to arrest him. But they took everything, his computers. They didn't find anything," he said.
Saleh has been jailed without bail since Saturday and was arrested after he and an accomplice tried to attack an officer who was tailing his Jeep, according to authorities.
