Hamas Attack Inspired Mercer County Man To Join Terror Group: Feds

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ — A 23-year-old man, who moved from Mercer County to Egypt, was arrested after making travel plans to train with the terrorist group al Shabaab, federal officials charged.

In an complaint unsealed Friday, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York charged Karrem Nasr of Lawrenceville with attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, which is a designated foreign terrorist organization by the United States. Officials said he made multiple social media posts and comments to a federal informant about waging "jihad" against the U.S.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said that Nasr, who also went by Ghareeb Al-Muhajir, "was prepared to kill and be killed to support the jihadist cause" and "described America as ‘evil’ and the ‘head of the snake.'"

Court documents detail conversations that Nasr had with an FBI confidential source about his plans to join al Shabaab, and his support of terrorist ideology. Officials said that Nasr moved from New Jersey to Egypt around July 2023, and began expressing a desire to join the terrorist group and wage war against America in posts by November.

"In communications exchanged with the (confidential source) and postings online, NASR stated that he had been thinking about engaging in jihad for a long time, and he was particularly motivated to become a jihadi by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel," officials said in a news release.

A documented social media post from Nov. 30 warned that “Jihad” was “coming soon to a US location near you,” and included airplane, bomb, and fire emojis. Nasr also expressed his desire to be a martyr for the jihadist cause, officials said.

Nasr then booked a flight for Dec. 14 from Egypt to Kenya, where he planned to meet members of al Shabaab "for further travel to Somalia to join and train with the group," federal officials said. Officers took him into custody in Nairobi on that day, and he was transported to the U.S. on Thursday, Dec. 28, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Nasr was scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses in Manhattan federal court on Friday. It is not immediately clear who his defense attorney is.