FBI Arrests Texas Man Who Planned 9/11-Style Terrorist Attack

The FBI has announced they have arrested a Texas man who planned a 9/11-style terrorist attack in the United States.

Authorities arrested Anas Said last week, and according to the arrest memo, Said allegedly “discussed his efforts to commit violence in the United States, including considering purchasing a gun, researching military recruitment facilities, and scouting one specific location in Houston.”

Said also allegedly attempted to travel overseas to join ISIS on several occasions.

Douglas Williams, FBI Houston Special Agent, stated, “Today is a great day. We’ve taken a suspected terrorist off the streets of Houston.”

#BREAKING FBI Houston SAC Douglas Williams announces the arrest of 28-year-old Anas Said. He is accused of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, and, by his own admission, planning a #terrorist attack on U.S. soil – all from his apartment in far west Houston. #HouNews pic.twitter.com/o8TnNwRkLn

— FBI Houston (@FBIHouston) November 14, 2024

FBI nabs Houston man accused of planning ISIS terror attack, creating radical islamist propaganda on US soil https://t.co/ayUx4DxcHu pic.twitter.com/XAX5owvbL4

— New York Post (@nypost) November 14, 2024

Check out what CNN reported:

The FBI announced on Thursday the arrest of a Texas man who allegedly created and disseminated ISIS propaganda and wanted to commit a “9/11-style” attack in the United States.

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The man, Anas Said, was arrested last week outside of his apartment in Houston, Texas. His arraignment and detention hearing are set before a federal judge Thursday afternoon on the charge of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.

Said told agents following his arrest that “he tried several times to travel to join ISIS and stated he would readily move back to Lebanon if he were released,” according to a detention memo filed in court by prosecutors. According to Houston’s FBI field office, he admitted to offering his home as a “safe sanctuary” to ISIS operators.

“He also discussed his efforts to commit violence in the United States, including considering purchasing a gun, researching military recruitment facilities, and scouting one specific location” in Houston, according to the memo.

Said told investigators he “considered asking military members that he would see near his work if they supported Israel or if they had been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq and killed Muslims there, and if they said yes, those are the persons he would kill,” the memo said.

CNN has reached out to Said’s attorney for comment.

According to court documents, the FBI has been aware of Said’s support of ISIS since 2017, when he ordered stickers related to ISIS. At the time, Said told agents that he started believing in ISIS’s ideology in 2015, following his returning to the US from Lebanon. Prosecutors say Said was born in Houston in 1996 but traveled “shortly thereafter” to Lebanon where he and his family lived until 2014.

BREAKING: FBI arrests Houston man for alleged ISIS ties, terror plot on U.S. soil https://t.co/mPP9iTh6JU

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 14, 2024

Here’s what HPM reported:

A 28-year-old Houston man is in custody and accused of plotting a terrorist attack in the city, FBI officials said.
Anas Said is accused of planning a terrorist attack and attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
FBI officials said Said admitted to planning the terror attack from his far west Houston apartment.

Officials said he also admitted to researching how to conduct an attack on local military recruiting centers, offering his home as a safe sanctuary to ISIS operatives, bragging he would commit a “9/11-style” attack if he had the resources and attempting to produce ISIS propaganda.

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Said produced five videos and made two images for dissemination. Officials said he became increasingly radicalized in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas against Israel.

Said was taken into custody last week, according to officials.

“Today is a great day. We’ve taken a suspected terrorist off the streets of Houston,” said Douglas Williams, FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge.
Williams said Said has been on the radar of the FBI Houston Joint Terrorist Task Force since 2017.
The FBI announced Said’s arrest and planned terror attack in a Thursday morning news conference. He was taken into custody on Nov. 8 and authorities said he threw his cellular phone on the ground in an attempt to shatter and break it before his arrest that day.