Latest news with #JointTerrorismTaskForce
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Man indicted on charges from pipe bomb explosions
Jun. 11—A federal grand jury indicted a Hamilton County man Wednesday on federal crimes related to explosive devices. Robert Gilb, 50, of Green Twp., allegedly detonated three improvised explosive devices, or pipe bombs, in Hamilton and Butler counties in March and April. He was arrested Tuesday by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. He possessed an unregistered destructive device and transporting explosive materials, the press release says. "This alleged activity posed a serious risk to public safety. The FBI worked closely with our law enforcement partners to neutralize this potential danger and protect the community." Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Miami Twp. for a report of a loud explosion. What appeared to be a blast crater and components of an improvised explosive device were found, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. The FBI investigation revealed there were two previous incidents in Morgan Twp. in Butler County that appeared to have had similar characteristics to the incident in Miami Twp. Butler County Sheriff's deputies responded to incidents March 23 and March 28. The FBI said witnesses saw Gilb in a white BMW near the site of at least one of the locations of the explosion. Gilb is charged with three counts of possessing an unregistered destructive device and three counts of transporting explosive materials. Each charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
FBI accuses Green Twp. man of detonating homemade bombs in woods across Greater Cincinnati
The FBI arrested a Green Township man this week they say is responsible for detonating homemade explosives in wooded areas across Greater Cincinnati. Robert Gilb, 50, was arrested June 10 by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force after agents connected Gilb to at least three explosions in Hamilton and Butler counties. The federal investigation began in April after Hamilton County sheriff's deputies responded to a loud explosion and white smoke in a wooded area off East Miami River Road in Cleves. There, deputies found a small pipe, a small piece of wire and 10 batteries housed together in the radius of 50 feet, according to a sheriff's office incident report. The FBI took over the investigation and connected it to two similar explosions in Butler County a month earlier. Butler County sheriff's deputies told the FBI in March they went to a neighborhood in Okeana, a small unincorporated community off State Route 126, for a dispute between neighbors. The dispute followed an explosion nearby similar to the one in Cleves. Then, days later, a witness to another explosion nearby reported seeing a white BMW parked prior to the detonation. Authorities learned Gilb was the owner of that BMW. After talking to "multiple witnesses," a federal agent wrote in court documents Gilb was identified as a person involved in construction explosives. Gilb faces charges of possession of an unregistered destructive device and transporting explosive materials without a permit, according to court records. Those are federal crimes punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly Norris said in a news release. Gilb is expected next in federal court in Cincinnati on June 12 at 1:30 p.m. before Magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FBI: Green Twp. man blew up homemade bombs in Cincinnati-area woods
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Two people killed in 'anti-Semitic terrorism' as police swarm street
A man and a woman have been shot dead in the street of a busy city centre near a Jewish museum. Emergency services rushed to the scene at around 10.30pm on Wednesday (3.30am Thursday in UK) in the US capital, reports local media. Police officers have warned members of the public to avoid the area around the Capital Jewish Museum in Penn Quarter, Washington DC, following the incident. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is responding, sources familiar with the shooting told News4 in the US. Police have asked people to avoid the area whiley they investigate. No further details about the man and woman, such as their names, their relationship if they knew each other, and their ages, have been disclosed by police at this stage Multiple sources are suggesting the shooting was terror-related. The Mirror is working to verify this. Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has tweeted: "The shooting outside the event at the Jewish Museum in Washington – in which Israeli embassy employees were also injured – is a criminal act of anti-Semitic terrorism. Attacking diplomats and the Jewish community is crossing a red line. "We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act. Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens and representatives – everywhere in the world."
Fox News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Kash Patel delivers fiery warning after FBI disrupts mass shooting terror plot targeting military
EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Kash Patel issued a fiery warning after the bureau disrupted a mass shooting plot at a military base on behalf of ISIS. Patel told Fox News Digital that any individual targeting the U.S. military or conspiring with foreign terrorist organizations will be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." The director's warning comes after a former Michigan Army National Guard member, Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting near the U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) center at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. "Let this be a warning: Anyone who targets our military or conspires with foreign terrorist organizations will be found, stopped and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Patel told Fox News Digital Thursday. "I commend the men and women of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and our law enforcement partners for their continued dedication to protecting the American people." Said "launched his drone in support of the attack plan" and told an undercover FBI agent in the lead-up to the foiled plot he recommended that "everyone have about seven magazines because you don't want to be in there and run out of ammo," according to officials. Said is now facing charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years per count if convicted. The Justice Department said that, in April, "two undercover officers indicated they intended to carry out Said's plan at the direction of ISIS. "In response, Said provided material assistance to the attack plan, including providing armor-piercing ammunition and magazines for the attack, flying his drone over TACOM to conduct operational reconnaissance, training the undercover employees on firearms and the construction of Molotov cocktails for use during the attack and planning numerous details of the attack, including how to enter TACOM and which building to target." A criminal complaint stated that, around June 2024, Said started communicating with an undercover FBI agent who he thought was a fellow ISIS supporter. The complaint noted that Said enlisted in the Michigan Army National Guard in September 2022 and attended basic training at Fort Moore in Georgia. He later reported to the Michigan Army National Guard Taylor Armory before being discharged around December 2024. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is leading the investigation into the case. "Our agents, intelligence teams, and partners acted quickly — and they saved lives," Patel wrote on X Tuesday. "Well done to all on executing the mission."
CBS News
29-04-2025
- CBS News
Federal task force responsible for thwarting potential attacks in North Texas marks 45 years
If not for a federal task force's work in North Texas, residents could have been only a push of a button on a cell phone away from a possible terrorist disaster. "I just couldn't believe that level of predator was among us," said Tom Petrowski. Federal task force's crucial role in preventing terrorism in North Texas Petrowski said most North Texans are unaware of just how many potential terrorists are among us and how many acts of terrorism have been attempted but failed only because of the FBI task force he ran for 6 years, the Joint Terrorism Task Force SSA. That federal task force is recognizing its 45th anniversary this month. Petrowski said he can't count the number of terrorist cases he dealt with in Dallas. "The tempo of the JTTF was blistering," he said. Reflecting on 45 years: The legacy of the Joint Terrorism Task Force Petrowski and other members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force are looking back on the special investigative unit's history 45 years after its creation. "It's been absolutely critical, you know, after the events of 9/11," said Petrowski. "The one key takeaway was that we were only going to beat this together. One team, one fight." One of the team's toughest involved Hosam Smadi. The 19-year-old Jordanian national, who lived in Ellis County, gathered explosives and thought he was carrying out a terrorist attack in Downtown Dallas in 2009. But Smadi was unaware that his co-conspirators were actually undercover members of the task force who helped plant what he thought was a bomb in the back of a pickup truck that would be detonated by a cell phone. "The zeal and passion that he brought that day was absolutely shocking," Petrowski said, When he tried to set off the bomb underneath the 60-story Fountain Place tower, he was arrested and is still serving a 24-year prison sentence. "What I'm really proud of is the team, and the ability of so many across not just the Dallas division, but all these agencies that supported us," Petrowski said. The task force in Dallas also arrested Khalid Aldawsari in 2011, who had these bomb making materials in his Lubbock apartment and photos of how to hide them, as well as potential targets. Petrowski encourages ongoing awareness and preparedness Petrowski believes that without the Joint Terrorism Task Force, there would have been attacks throughout the U.S. Though he has retired, Petrowski urges those who follow him to remain vigilant and proud of what they've accomplished. "As I reflect, probably my best six years of my 36 years of government service."
