West New York, NJ – New Jersey Man Charged With Conspiracy To Provide Material Support To Islamic State

West New York, NJ – FBI agents on Monday arrested another New Jersey man who is accused of plotting to support the Islamic State group.

Authorities charged Alaa Saadeh, 23, of West New York, with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic militant organization and witness tampering. They said he tried to persuade a witness to lie to the FBI.

Saadeh was scheduled to appear before a judge in federal court in Newark on Monday afternoon. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney.

The FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force have been investigating several people in New York and New Jersey amid heightened concerns of terrorist attacks surrounding the July Fourth holiday. Samuel Rahamin Topaz, 21, of Fort Lee, was charged earlier this month with conspiring to join the Islamic State group.

And a Rutherford man who is Saddeh’s brother traveled to the Middle East in May to join the group and was arrested in Jordan, authorities said.

The criminal complaint alleges Topaz had numerous meetings and exchanged text messages and phone calls with Saddeh, his brother and 20-year-old Munther Omar Saleh. The New York City college student was arrested this month and charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Prosecutors claimed Saadeh told another individual that he suspected that Saleh or Topaz had “snitched” on his brother and caused his arrest overseas, and that, if true, Saadeh thought he would have to “kill someone.”