Two young American men, who were headed to Somalia to join an al qaeda-linked jihadist group and planned to attack American soldiers in that country, were arrested at an airport here before boarding flights to Egypt.
The duo -- Mohamed Hamoud Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park -- had the intention of training with the extremist group al Shabaab and then attack American troops in Somalia, the feds claimed.
They were, however, not planning an attack in New York or New Jersey.
The New Jersey men were planning to board separate flights to Egypt, with an intention of ultimately travelling to Somalia.
"Two individuals were arrested at JFK in connection with an ongoing investigation. At this time, we can provide no further details because the investigation is ongoing. The arrests do not relate to an immediate threat," said Jose Lozano, a spokesman for the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
They have been charged with conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism and will appear in a New Jersey district court on Monday.
The extremist group, al Shabaab, is fighting the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government in Somalia and controls large swathes of territory.
This arrest comes a month after an American citizen of Pakistani-origin, Faisal Shahzad, attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on May 1.
Before that, on Christmas Day, a Nigerian man Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner.
The New Jersey based newspaper, Star Ledger, which broke the story reported that shortly after 10:30pm yesterday, FBI agents sealed off Alessa's street in North Bergen.
After that the local police, FBI and NYPD switched on all the lights and began to thoroughly search the house, which stands in a row of middle-class homes.
Similar action was being taken just over 10 miles away, in Elmwood Park where dozens of police cars arrived at Almonte's home about 11pm.
The agents again turned on all the lights and all searched the outside of the house with searchlights.
Ledger said that a couple who appeared to be family members showed up around 11:30 and greeted the agents as if they knew them.
The older man was escorted into the house and could be seen embracing one of the FBI agents in the kitchen.
