Proactive investigation leads to the FBI arresting and thwarting Halloween terrorist plot_.

Police Off The Cuff/Real Crime Stories

Bill Cannon Police off the Cuff/Real Crime Stories

Law Enforcement, True Crime, Military, Crime

4.4 • 870 Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The foiling of the Michigan Halloween plot is a sobering story. It’s a case that shows how online radicalization remains a persistent threat, allowing extremist ideologies to inspire people to plan devastating acts of violence from their own homes. The investigation itself is a blueprint of modern counter-terrorism: a painstaking process of monitoring digital chats, conducting real-world surveillance, and coordinating across multiple agencies to dismantle a threat piece by piece.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good morning, everyone, and welcome to police off the cuff. Real Crime Stories. I'm your host,
0:08.6	retired NYPD, Sergeant Bill Cannon, a 27-year veteran of the NYPD. Interesting case in Michigan.
0:15.5	And you can understand the public's reluctance in believing the FBI coming on the heels of, you know, some misconduct by them in the last administration.
0:28.1	But on the screen, according to Cash Patel, this was about a week ago, okay, October 31st.
0:35.0	This morning, the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested
0:39.1	multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend.
0:45.9	There are more details to come thanks to the men and women of the FBI and law enforcement
0:49.6	everywhere standing guard 24-7 and crushing our mission to defend the homeland. Well, that is
0:56.9	what law enforcement is supposed to do. They're supposed to do what's called proactive policing,
1:02.9	rather than to wait until something happens, actively be involved in investigation,
1:10.4	actively be involved in being online in these chat rooms,
1:14.4	these potentially violent chat rooms where plots can take place and apparently were taking place.
1:23.0	It all began not with a bang, but with a series of digital breadcrumbs.
1:28.7	That's what they call online as they follow this.
1:34.6	In the vast and often anonymous corners of the Internet,
1:38.5	federal investigators from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force started noticing
1:43.5	some alarming chats on encrypted messaging apps.
1:47.3	These weren't just angry posts. There were conversations soaked in the violent ideology of ISIS.
1:54.0	At the center of this digital storm were two young men from Dearborn, Michigan.
1:58.3	Mahmad Ali, age 20, and Majid Mahmoud, also 20.
2:03.0	According to federal prosecutors, these two weren't just consuming extremist propaganda.
2:08.9	They were actively sharing it and allegedly planning to bring that violence into the real
	...

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