Terrorism-related charges were expected to be filed Friday against two men arrested in the Southland by a Joint Terrorism Task Force and believed to have been planning to join terrorists abroad.
The suspects were arrested Thursday night — one at Los Angeles International Airport and one in Orange County, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller and Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They are due to appear in federal court in Santa Ana this afternoon, Eimiller said.
The suspects fit a pattern common to individuals who have been recruited by ISIS as foreign fighters, sources told NBC news.
The FBI served two search warrants in relation to the case, NBC reported. Both suspects are from Anaheim, according to ABC7.
The arrests were carried out by the Orange County Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the FBI, the Anaheim Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Orange County Register reported.
One of the suspects — the one arrested at LAX — is 24-year-old Nader Salem Elhuzayel, the Register reported. His arrest came after the FBI and a SWAT team raided the Crystal Inn Motel at 2123 W. Lincoln Ave. in Anaheim, where the suspect’s mother — Falak Elhuzayel — lives. But he was not there.
Falak Elhuzayel stood crying outside Room 118 at the motel and insisted her son is good-hearted.
“My son is a very good kid,” she said in remarks reported by the Register.
