UN diplomat’s son among New Jersey men arrested in Halloween terror plot

First on Fox: A hunky 19-year-old from New Jersey, accused of planning to join the remnants of ISIS following a foiled terrorist attack on gay bars in Michigan, stood before a crowd. ISIS flag And another alleged conspirator appeared in jihadist garb in photos intercepted by federal agents from a group chat in which the alleged conspirators joked about being monitored by the FBI.

Both were already on the FBI’s radar.

Tomas Can Jimenez Guzel, 19, of Montclair, allegedly volunteered to perform ISIS-style on-camera beheadings on a video call with suspected conspirators, and was hoping for a Wikipedia page and a documentary dedicated to his misdeeds. He was interviewed by the FBI in 2024 after allegedly predicting a “newsworthy” terrorist attack in Boston.

Separately, New Jersey District Attorney Alina Haba identified a sixth suspect as Saeed Ali Merah, 19, of Kent, Washington, who is charged with conspiring to support a designated foreign terrorist organization. A federal criminal complaint revealed that Meret was already on the FBI’s radar after investigations in 2023 and 2024 into alleged ties to a terrorist suspect in Canada and discussion of other ISIS attacks.

Suspects in foiled Halloween terror plot pictured training at Michigan gun range: FBI

Federal investigators intercepted this photo that they claim shows Tomas Jimenez Guzel holding a knife in front of an ISIS flag. The straight index finger is also claimed to be an ISIS hand signal. Jimenez Guzel allegedly blurred his face before sending the photo. (Ministry of Justice)

“The terrorist threat is real,” Haba said in a video posted on X on Wednesday, linking the suspects to three suspected conspirators of the Halloween attacks in suburban Detroit, who were arrested with a stash of expensive firearms and ammunition on Friday.

Mereh was the alleged “financial man” accused of raising thousands of dollars to fund travel to Syria with the help of an online scammer identified only as “Bob,” who court documents identified in Sweden.

She added that the two men planned to travel from Türkiye to Syria Fighting for ISIS.

Authorities arrested Mereh at his Washington home just hours before he was scheduled to fly from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, according to a federal criminal complaint. Jimenez-Guzel was detained at Newark Liberty International Airport after boarding his flight from Nov. 17 to Nov. 5.

Federal Authorities Arrest Two Additional Suspects in Foiled ISIS-Inspired Halloween Plot: Source

Federal investigators intercepted this photo that they claimed showed Tomas Jimenez Guzel wearing a keffiyeh on his head and holding a gun. He allegedly blurred his face before sending the photo. (Ministry of Justice)

Federal authorities Police also arrested Montclair resident Milo Siddarat, the 21-year-old son of an Iranian expatriate poet who teaches college English in New York City. Agents wearing tactical gear and armored vehicles were seen outside his father’s home on Tuesday.

It appears that the suspects were aware of their presence Encrypted conversations Court documents allege the FBI may be monitoring them, and they make fun of it by exchanging text messages and sending selfies with their faces blurred.

“Everyone should be prepared to take someone’s life,” Meret allegedly said at one point, using an alternative phrase that social media users typically enter in place of the word “murder” to get around content filters.

Federal investigators intercepted this photo that they claimed showed Saeed Merah wearing an ISIS uniform. He allegedly blurred his face before sending the photo. (Ministry of Justice)

In one conversation, Jimenez-Guzel allegedly suggested planning a fake plot to mislead authorities. In another case, after a group of suspected conspirators from Dearborn, Michigan, were arrested, he allegedly told the group on a conference call that “there are a lot of urgent things we need to talk about.”

“Five of us are in the article and the feds… will be looking for us soon,” he said. “If we don’t leave, we’re cooked.”

Police say the perpetrator of the attack on the synagogue in Manchester “pledged allegiance to ISIS”

Jimenez-Guzel’s mother is Meral Guzel, head of the United Nations Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator, a program under the agency that focuses on women’s rights, according to the New York Post, which called the two suspects “alleged yuppie jihadists.”

Guzel’s LinkedIn profile touts her work on “gender equality,” “inclusive growth,” and “competitive supply chains.”

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Milo Cedarat gifts a pair of sneakers to a friend in a photo posted on Facebook. (Facebook/Janet Afsharian)

Jimenez Guzel is charged with one count Conspiracy to provide material support of a foreign terrorist organization and one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison plus another fine of $250,000 if convicted.

Sedrat was charged with two counts of conveying a threat in interstate or foreign commerce, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Neither entered pleas at their initial appearance Wednesday afternoon.

Roger Cedarat walks outside his home in Montclair, New Jersey, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. Cedarat’s son, Milo Cedarat, 21, was arrested Tuesday as a suspected accomplice in the foiled plot to shoot up gay bars in suburban Detroit on Halloween. (Rashid Omar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

Roger Siddarat, Siddarat’s father, sat quietly in the back of the courtroom with an attorney and another woman on Wednesday during his son’s first appearance. Sedrat is the largest Iranian-American poet He is a professor of English at Queens College, according to the school’s website.

He did not respond to multiple attempts to reach him for comment.

The split image shows still images taken from surveillance video showing Muhammad Ali at a gun range in Michigan. (Eastern District of Michigan)

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There were three other suspects, including two brothers He was arrested in Dearbornanother Detroit-area community, also cited two other juvenile suspects in court documents.

The defendants are Dearborn residents, Majed Mahmoud, 20 years old, Muhammad Ali, 20 years old, and Ali’s brother, Ayoub Nasser, 19 years old.

They are accused of planning to remain in the United States to carry out the operation Halloween plot foiled.

Ayoub Nasser, dressed in black, is the fifth man charged in connection with an alleged Halloween terror plot in Michigan. Charges were brought against his older brother, Muhammad Ali, on Monday, along with his colleague, Majed Mahmoud, 20, in Dearborn. In a separate incident, two other young men were arrested in New Jersey. (Eastern District of Michigan)

Jimenez Guzel, the Washington man, and other alleged conspirators are accused of planning to travel to Türkiye, then Syria, to join ISIS as fighters, Haba said.

Federal investigators intercepted group chat discussions allegedly codenamed by the suspects Halloween plot “Pumpkin” and discussed traveling abroad to join ISIS, a terrorist group known for its brutal executions, mass-casualty terrorist attacks in the West, and briefly occupying large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

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The plot remains under investigation, and more arrests are likely.

Fox News’ Maria Baronich contributed to this report.