Six Russian nationals suspected to have terror ties to ISIS have been arrested in a coordinated sting operation spanning Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, The Post can exclusively reveal.
Two ICE sources confirmed to The Post they arrested the six people, who hail from Tajikistan, over the last week after the FBI contacted the agency to warn it.
Two others who were part of the same group were also arrested after being under surveillance for “several months” by a multi-agency Joint Terrorism Task Force, according to NBC.
Part of the investigation featured a wiretap which revealed one of the now-arrested individuals was talking about bombs, the sources said.
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“Remember the Boston marathon [bombing]? I’m afraid something like that might happen again or worse,” one of the sources told The Post.
The target who was subject to the wiretap was previously released by federal authorities at the southern border with a court date next year, but it has since emerged he has potential ties to ISIS, sources said.
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In a joint statement, the Department of Homeland Security and FBI told The Post: “Over the last few days, ICE agents arrested several non-citizens pursuant to immigration authorities.
“The actions were carried out in close coordination with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces. The individuals arrested are detained in ICE custody pending removal proceedings … The FBI and DHS will continue working around the clock with our partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt potential threats to national security. ”
The targets had all crossed the southern border and initial vetting by federal authorities didn’t turn up any negative information tied to their names, Fox News reported.
At least two of the men had crossed into the US in spring 2023, and one had used the CBP One app to enter, according to NBC’s sources.
The arrests come after warnings from FBI Director Chris Wray about possible ISIS terror plots being staged on US soil and the group’s potential for exploiting the southern border.
In April, Wray warned lawmakers that a possible “coordinated attack” could take place in the US following an ISIS-K attack on a concert hall in Moscow — carried out by citizens of Tajikistan — that killed 145 people and wounded hundreds more.
“Our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home,” Wray told a House Appropriations subcommittee.
“But now, increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall a couple weeks ago.”
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ISIS-K stands for Islamic State Khorasan, referencing a region which includes parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It is an extreme offshoot of the Islamic State militant group, founded in 2014.
Although the group has previously concentrated its efforts on Russia, multiple Western leaders have warned of its ability to launch attacks in Europe and America.
Just a month before Wray testified about the bureau’s fears, he shared his concerns with the Senate Intelligence Committeeabout a human smuggling operation at the southern border, with ties to terrorists from ISIS-affiliated groups.
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“I want to be a little bit careful how far I can go in open session, but there is a particular network that, where some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we’re very concerned about and that we’ve been spending enormous amount of effort with our partners investigating,” the FBI director said in response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“Exactly what that network is up to is something that’s, again, the subject of our current investigation,” he added.
The bureau had been investigating whether dozens of migrants from Uzbekistan crossed the US-Mexico border with the help of a Turkish smuggler tied to ISIS, CNN reported last August.
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The number of migrants caught at the southern border with suspected terror ties has skyrocketed in recent years, jumping from 11 in the financial years 2017 through 2020 to 362 between financial years 2021 and April 2024, according to federal data.
With migration continuing at unprecedented levels, federal authorities have already accidentally released migrants into the country who have suspected or known terror ties.
Mohammad Kharwin, 48, illegally entered the US near San Ysidro, Calif., in March 2023 and was freed into the US.
However, it wasn’t until a year later the FBI notified ICE that Kharwin was a suspected member of the US-designated foreign terror group Hezb-e-Islami, or HIG. Kharwin was rearrested on April 11 and remains in federal custody.
Additionally, ICE admitted earlier this year that a 27-year-old Somali national, who has not been identified by name, was let into the country despite being a “confirmed member of al Shabaab,” a designated terrorist group in the US.
The man was terror-watchlisted and said to be “involved in the use, manufacture or transportation of explosives or firearms,” but was released at the border in California in March 2023.
Almost a year later, ICE tracked him down to Minnesota and arrested him.
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Border agents have told The Post they know others have slipped through the cracks because they do not get enough time toeffectively screen people.
“What you’re seeing now is only gonna get worse,” one Border Patrol agent recently told The Post.
“ICE probably has a list of people they need to go after.”
The Biden administration implemented a new border policy Wednesday to stop illegal border crossers applying for asylum until the nuber of illegal crossers apprehended falls below 1,500 per day.
Migrants, however, appear undeterred by the new rule and have been crossing into areas such as San Diego, which is currently the busiest crossing for illegal entries in the US.
Agents there have been told to exempt citizens of over 100 countries from being removed, because the government has problems in returning them to their home countries.
Over the weekend, there were roughly 10,000 illegal crossings recorded by Border Patrol agents at the southern border, according to agency data seen by The Post.
