UPDATE: Former Bergen County Man Arrested For Supporting ISIL

A former Bergen County man was arrested and charged Monday morning with trying to provide support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a foreign terrorist organization, authorities announced.

Nader Saadeh, 20, a former Rutherford resident, was part of a group of people form New Jersey and New York the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force have been investigating, said U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. The group allegedly supported and tried to join ISIL.

Saadeh lived in Rutherford until May 5 when he allegedly left the United States to join ISIL, authorities said. He reportedly flew out of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and researched flights to Turkey, Fishman said. Turkey borders Syria, a country where ISIL claims to control land.

Saadeh allegedly sent electronic messages to a Queens, New York conspirator between 2012 and 2013 stating his hatred of the United States and his desire to form a small army that would include his friends, Fishman said.

Related: ISIL-Related Raid Results In New Jersey Man’s Arrest

According to an informant who was close to him for years, Saadeh became a “radicalized support of ISIL” by April 2015, Fishman said.

Saadeh traveled to John F. Kennedy Airport with the Queens conspirator and Alaa Saadeh May 5; he planned to reunite with another Bergen County man, Samuel Rahamin Topaz of Fort Lee, overseas in a few weeks, Fishman said. Topaz was charged in June with conspiring to provide services and personnel to ISIL.

The FBI obtained computer files showing Saadeh viewing ISIL propaganda videos, Fishman said. Authorities also found electronic messages from Saadeh’s family members overseas allegedly pleading with him not to join ISIL.

Topaz told the FBI on the day of his arrest that he, Nader Saadeh, Alaa Saadeh, and the conspirator watched ISIL propaganda videos together and discussed joining ISIL overseas, Fishman said.

Alaa Saadeh told the FBI that the Queen conspirator provided Nader Saadeh with the name and phone number of an ISIL contract near the Turkey/Syria border who would help Saadeh travel to ISIL-controlled territory.

Nader Saadeh was charged with conspiring with other individuals in New Jersey and New York to provide services and personnel to ISIL and with attempting to provide services and personnel to ISIL. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Saadeh was scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark federal court Monday afternoon.