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DOJ: 20-Year-Old Former New Jersey Resident Planned to Form Army to Fight with Islamic State
This undated file image posted on a militant website Jan. 14, 2014, shows fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State marching in Raqqa, Syria. (AP Photo/militant website, File)

DOJ: 20-Year-Old Former New Jersey Resident Planned to Form Army to Fight with Islamic State

He could face several decades in prison if convicted on all counts.

NEWARK, N.J. (TheBlaze/AP) -- A former New Jersey man who traveled to the Middle East last year wanted to form a small army to fight with the Islamic State group, federal authorities said Monday, weeks after the man's brother was arrested in the same alleged plot.

Nader Saadeh, 20, was charged with attempting to provide material support to the terror group and was scheduled to appear Monday in U.S. District Court in Newark. It wasn't known if he's retained an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

The former Rutherford resident's arrest comes after authorities arrested his 23-year-old brother, Alaa, and 21-year-old Samuel Rahamin Topaz of Fort Lee on similar charges.

This photo was posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 showing masked militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching in Raqqa, Syria. (Photo via AP) This photo was posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 showing masked militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching in Raqqa, Syria. (Photo via AP)

Authorities say Nader Saadeh traveled to the Middle East in May to join the Islamic State but was arrested in Jordan and had been held there in custody. It was not immediately clear when or how he returned to the United States.

He could face several decades in prison if convicted on all counts as well as a fine of $250,000.

Between 2012 and 2013, Saadeh allegedly expressed his hatred for the United States and his wish to form a small army via electronic messages. After the Islamic State's leader declared an Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq in July 2014, authorities say Saadeh posted images of the group's flags on Facebook.

WCBS-TV reported that Saadeh cased the George Washington Bridge and was planning to explode a pressure-cooker bomb like the one at the Boston Marathon.

"According to an informant who was close to him for years, by April 2015, Nader Saadeh had become radicalized supporter of ISIL who was preparing to travel overseas with other individuals," the complaint states. "Nader Saadeh said that ISIL’s execution of a captured Jordanian Air Force pilot by burning him alive and the murders of several staff members of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France, earlier this year were justified."

Prosecutors have said the Saadeh brothers had numerous meetings and exchanged text messages and phone calls with Topaz and 20-year-old Munther Omar Saleh, a New York City college student who was arrested in June and charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to the complaint, the The FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force had been monitoring the three for a while. Fox News reported that Saadeh is the sixth man to be arrested in the two-state sting, according to the Department of Justice.

Authorities have also intercepted several emails sent to Saadeh from family members in April 2015 including one email from his mother that urged him not to join the terrorist organization, according to Fox News.

In a June 13 conversation secretly recorded by an informant, Alaa Saadeh allegedly spoke of his knowledge of his brother's plans. He also allegedly told the person what to do if the FBI began asking questions.

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