‘People would have died’: Inside the FBI’s Halloween takedown that exposed a global terror network

By Fox News · Fox News

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI thwarted a massive terror attack in October that prevented the killing of countless Americans and exposed a global terror network through their investigative strategy that led to "some of the most impactful arrests" in the counterterrorism program in recent years. Fox News Digital sat down Thursday for an exclusive interview with FBI Director Kash Patel , FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and a senior agent official with direct involvement in counterterrorism cases. THWARTED MICHIGAN HALLOWEEN TERROR PLOT HAD CONNECTION TO ISIS, FOX NEWS LEARNS The potential terror attack was set to take place in Michigan ahead of Halloween weekend and allegedly had a connection to ISIS, the FBI said. The FBI arrested multiple suspects accused of plotting the terror attack. "The arrests that happened in Detroit, Newark, and Seattle represent one of the most deadly plots faced by the FBI in recent memory," the agent told Fox News Digital. "Those eight arrests, and ones that have happened around the world are some of the most impactful arrests that have happened in the counterterrorism program in recent years." Two men have been charged in federal court — Mohamed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, both from Dearborn, Michigan. The charges involve transferring firearms and ammunition and conspiring or attempting to do so, knowing they would be used to commit and support terrorism and providing material support to ISIS. The government alleges five individuals were involved in the plot, including one minor. BROTHER OF SUSPECTED HOMEGROWN TERRORIST ARRESTED AS HALLOWEEN PLOT EXPANDS TO MORE STATES Patel told Fox News Digital that the FBI "arrested the people who were the overt actors immediately, while constantly surveilling the people in New Jersey and Seattle." "We arrested them in a coordinated fashion thereafter to take down the entire network," Patel said, hitting back at critics. "If we were to do this the way the media wanted us to do it, we would have waited for them to kill…