After an operation that started about four months ago, the FBI has arrested several suspects of domestic terrorism in a Miami low-income housing project.
The arrests took place Thursday afternoon at the Scott Housing Projects in the area of NW 68th street and 15th Avenue. Miami Police officers were seen in the area securing a perimeter for the FBI to carry out their arrests.
Sources tell CBS4 News it is unclear whether weapons or bomb-making materials were found, but those detained are suspected of being involved in planning terrorist activity.
Neighbors say suspicious activity had been observed at the home recently.
Two months ago, a pair of Atlanta men, one a Georgia Tech engineering student, were arrested not long after communicating by e-mail with two of the suspects arrested in Canada over the weekend. The Atlanta men are charged with videotaping domestic targets, including the U.S. Capitol and the World Bank.
A U.S. counterterrorism official said 17 suspects in Canada are an example of a type of group that authorities have been concerned about for some time: self-organized, ad hoc cells of homegrown extremists, a development first seen in Britain.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Canada’s government rightfully considered the 17 a serious threat because there was evidence the group was far along in planning attacks.
Canadian police say there is no evidence the suspect group had ties to al Qaeda, but describe its members as being sympathetic to jihadist ideology. Officials are concerned that many of the 17 suspects were roughly 20 years old and had been radicalized in a short amount of time.
It is unknown if the Miami arrests are related to either the Atlanta or Canada arrests.