Mohamed Alessa, 20, and Carlos “Omar” Almonte, 24, are due in Newark federal court today on a bail hearing, and police yesterday released their mug shots to the press. (Amazing how scraggly beards on these kids, who are barely adults, always makes them look much scarier, huh?) Having been arrested after an undercover sting attempting to travel to Somalia for terror training, they’ve been charged with plotting to murder, maim, and kidnap. Today the Post has a rundown on all of their misbehavior leading up to their arrests, including plotting to blow up schools and getting in repeated fights. And according to the Daily News, Almonte even tried to convert his younger brother to his jihadist ways. When his attempts at coercion failed, he got into a wild brawl with the brother and eventually, in the mêlée, bit his mother deeply on the arm. Eight days later they were pulled over by cops on the way to “disrupt the Israeli Day parade.” But on that occasion, “they did not have weapons or anything like that,” a source said. “They were probably just going to be jerks, which is what they are.”
’Jersey Jihadist’ Carlos Almonte turned against own brother over Islam [NYDN]
The faces of hate [NYP]
