2 Bucks Co. Teens Charged In 'ISIS-Inspired' NYC Terrorism Plot

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Two Bucks County teenagers have been formally charged for their involvement in an alleged "ISIS-inspired" terrorism plot in New York City over the weekend, federal authorities said.

Emir Balat, an 18-year-old Neshaminy High School senior, and Ibrahim Kayumi, a 19-year-old Council Rock High School graduate, said that they brought homemade explosive devices to a protest near Gracie Mansion on Saturday after being inspired by the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Southern New York states.

Both were charged on Monday with five federal counts, including providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, Interstate transportation, and receipt of explosives and unlawful possession of destructive devices.

The two suspects wanted to carry out an attack "bigger than the Boston Marathon attack," Balet told authorities, the criminal complaint states, when asked if he was familiar with that terrorism plot. "No, even bigger. That was only three deaths."

The criminal complaint states that Kayumi — a 2024 Council Rock High School graduate — told authorities that he was affiliated with ISIS and had watched propaganda by the terrorist group on his phone.

It also states that Kayumi's mother filed a missing persons report about him leaving their Newtown Township home at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

When he was arrested, Balat had on him a Turkish government ID with the name Emir Balat on it and a Pennsylvania driver’s license with his name. Authorities believe both teens are U.S. citizens, the federal complaint states.

He crossed the George Washington Bridge less than an hour before he threw an IED into a crowd of protesters, the complaint states.

Federal investigators allege the two teenagers attempted to detonate IEDs in the area of East End Avenue and East 88th Street in Manhattan around 2:15 p.m. Saturday, the complaint reads.

Balat allegedly ignited and threw a device toward protesters, then ran down the block and received a second device from Kayumi, the complaint alleges.

After igniting the second device, Balat dropped it near where several NYPD officers were standing and ran away, jumping over a barricade before he was taken into police custody. Neither device detonated, the complaint states.

Authorities recovered items including coiled green material like a hobby fuse and a notebook containing handwritten notes including a page on TATP explosive — known by authorities as the "Mother of Satan" — and a list of chemical ingredients, the complaint states.

The complaint states that preliminary test results for one of the devices that Balat threw into the crowd contained a quantity of triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP, a highly volatile explosive material used in terrorist attacks over the last decade.

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