Six Russian citizens with possible links to ISIS have been arrested in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in a coordinated operation by law enforcement.
Two ICE officials have told the New York Post The suspected terrorist affiliates were arrested last week after the FBI raised the alarm.
The suspects are originally from Tajikistan and also have Russian citizenship, according to the Post.
Anonymous ICE officials told the newspaper that a wiretap revealed that one of the suspects was talking about bombs.
‘Do you remember the Boston Marathon (the attack)? I’m afraid something like this could happen again or worse,” an official told the Post.
Six Russian citizens with possible links to ISIS have been arrested in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in a coordinated operation by law enforcement; one source feared they were planning a Boston Marathon-style bomb attack (pictured).
The suspect in question has been involved with authorities before and will have a court date next year, according to the source.
It comes as senior law enforcement officials warned that the threat of a terrorist attack in the United States has increased “enormously” in recent months.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made this surprising admission while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday during a hearing dedicated to investigating the politicization of the department.
“I am concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack in the country after October 7,” said Attorney General Garland. “The threat level for us has increased enormously.”
‘Every morning we worry about this issue. “We try to track down anyone who may be trying to harm the country,” he continued. “Of course, this is a big priority for the Department of Justice.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray, speaking before a different committee across the Capitol in the Senate, agreed, saying that “we’ve seen the threat from foreign terrorists rise to a whole different level” after the terrorist attack in Hamas of October 7.
“We have seen a gallery of foreign terrorist organizations calling for attacks against Americans and our allies,” Wray said.
“Just during the time I have been director of the FBI, we have disrupted multiple terrorist attacks in cities across the United States.”
“I would be hard-pressed to think of a time when so many different threats to our public and national security were so elevated at the same time.”
Rescuers work to extinguish the fire at the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue following a shooting, outside Moscow, Russia, on March 22, 2024.
Wray said threats against American Jews have been particularly serious.
“We have seen an elevated threat to the Jewish community in the United States.”
Although he said Jewish communities were targeted before the Oct. 7 attack, threats have since “increased dramatically.”
“Religiously motivated hate crimes, about 60 percent of them, are directed at the Jewish community,” Wray testified, noting that the community only represents two percent of the American population.
“There is growing concern about the possibility of a coordinated attack here in our country, not unlike an attack we saw in the Russia theater,” he added, referring to the shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert in March.
One threat vector to enter the country is through the border between the United States and Mexico, according to the head of the FBI.