ISIS-linked 'Russian nationals' arrested in ICE raids in three states

A group of men suspected of having links to ISIS have been arrested in cities across the United States, it has been reported.

Six Russian nationals, originally from Tajikistan, a post-Soviet republic in Central Asia, were arrested as part of a coordinated sting operation spanning Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, reported The New York Postciting two anonymous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sources.

Two other people were also arrested after months of surveillance by a multi-agency joint counterterrorism task force, NBC reported, which did not mention ties to Russia.

News week contacted ICE for comment via email.

Initial checks did not raise any alarm bells about the targets as they crossed the southern border, Fox News reported. At least two of those men had entered the United States in the spring of 2023, and NBC said one of them used the CBP app that allows migrants to make appointments to apply for asylum.

One of those arrested had been wiretapped and was talking about bombs, The New York Post reported.

“Remember the Boston Marathon?” one of the ICE sources told the newspaper, referring to the 2013 Islamist terrorist attack at the race finish line. “Something like this could happen again or worse.”

Sources told NBC that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force had been monitoring the men for months as part of an investigation into a potential terrorist threat.

Members of the group have not yet been charged with terrorist ties or conspiracy, but the FBI alerted ICE that they should be arrested because of potential ties to ISIS, and they were arrested on charges immigration reasons, NBC reported.

The outlet said the group was facing deportation proceedings before an immigration judge, but could later face terrorism-related charges.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI said in a joint statement to The post office that ICE agents had “arrested multiple noncitizens pursuant to immigration authorities” in coordination with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

“The individuals arrested are being detained by ICE pending deportation proceedings,” the statement added.

In April, ICE arrested a man from Uzbekistan with suspected ties to ISIS who had been living in the United States for two years in Baltimore, NBC reported.

That month, FBI Director Chris Wray briefed a House Appropriations subcommittee on the threat of possible ISIS terrorist plots in the United States and the group's ability to exploit the southern border.

“The possibility of a coordinated attack here in our country is increasingly worrying,” he said, warning that such an incident could resemble the Crocus City Hall bombings in Moscow in March, which killed 145 people and injured hundreds more.