Who are Emir Balat & Ibrahim Kayumi? What we know about NYC suspects

A week after two Bucks County teens were charged in an an attempted terror plot, it’s still unclear how, or even if, they knew each other before authorities said they drove to Manhattan on a mission to kill.

Federal and New York authorities have not offered new details into the ongoing criminal investigation since the March 9 arrests of the suspects in a failed alleged terrorism attack that unfolded two days earlier when an anti-Islam group clashed with counter-protesters near Gracie Mansion.

Relatives of Emir Balat, 18, of Middletown, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, of Newtown Township, who are in federal detention, have remained silent. Attorneys listed as representing them also haven’t returned emails or responded to voice messages.

Balat and Kayumi appear to have similar backgrounds: Both are sons of successful Muslim immigrants who are now U.S. citizens and raised their families in comfortable suburban neighborhoods roughly 12 miles apart.

But scant public information exists about either man. What is available offers little insight into their alleged self-professed support for the Islamic State and its terrorist group, ISIS.

The only outward sign of the teens’ religious faith is a cover photo that appeared on a now-removed Facebook page associated with Balat that quotes the Quran: “He released the two seas, meeting (side by side).”

Here’s what we know so far about Balat and Kayumi, their lives and the criminal investigation.

Who is Emir Balat?

Balat appears to be a successful entrepreneur who specialized in buying items at retail and reselling them at a profit.

He was 13 when he started his first business using a computer code that allowed him buy up high-demand sneakers online the moment they went on sale before they sold out. Balat then resold the shoes on the secondary market.

In 2021, Garry Pozdnyakov saw a Facebook post Balat made about selling sought-after Nikes and arranged a purchase.

At the time, Pozdnyakov was in his early 20s and ran a brick-and-mortar store in Huntington Valley reselling sought-after clothing and sneakers. Soon, he said, he became a regular customer of Balat, buying approximately 30 pairs of sneakers at a time.

Balat’s dad shuttled him to the Penndel convenience store parking lot where the exchanges took place because he was too young to drive, Pozdnyakov said.

For two years, business was good, Pozdnyakov said: On limited-edition runs, Balat could clear $200 to $300 in profit for each pair.

Pozdnyakov described Balat as shy, awkward and not particularly memorable beyond the Dragon Ball character he used as a profile picture on his Venmo account.

“He just seemed like a normal person,” he said.

The one way he stood out to Pozdnyakov was his approach to business, which was with a maturity beyond his years. He was always respectful, shook his hand and asked how his business was doing, Pozdnyakov said.

He recalled how, unprompted, Balat showed up at a 2023 grand opening of a thrift store after he learned it was reselling the sneakers that Pozdnyakov bought from him. The teen talked about buying cryptocurrency long before it became a popular investment option, Pozdnyakov said.

The two lost touch in 2024 after the bottom fell out of the high-end sneaker business, added Pozdnyakov, who now runs a used car business in Bensalem.

Balat also appeared to have started a new venture involving secondary markets.

In September he created a Facebook page called “Emir’s Marketplace,” where he posted home improvement supplies for sale.

He routinely listed items on “Bucks County Exchange,”, a public social media group with more than 10,000 members, His last posts were on Feb. 16.

As of March 13, the Facebook account and item posts were no longer available.

His latest business appeared to coincide with Balat switching to remote learning for his senior year at Neshaminy High School, where attended until his March 9 arrest on terrorism charges.

New York attorney Mehdi Essmidi, who is listed as representing Balat, told reporters outside a New York City courthouse on March 9 that his client is three credits shy of graduating and has “complicated stuff going on” in his personal life.

Essmidi also told reporters his client met Kayumi for the first time March 7.

Balat is the son of Turkish-born parents who have lived in the Durham Meadows development in Middletown since 2014, according to county property records. .

Court records show that his father, Selahattin Balat, was granted U.S. asylum in 1998 and gained citizenship in 2017. His father has owned painting and construction businesses while his mother is a homemaker.

Selahattin Balat is a regular at the Turkish American Muslim Cultural Association, a mosque and community center in Bristol Township, according to Mehmet Isik, a former president.

Isik said he met the older Balat more than 25 years ago, and he last saw him at a Friday service a few weeks ago. Isak described him as a nice and quiet man who keeps to himself.

“Never seen anything negative,” he said.

Isik added that he didn’t remember ever seeing the younger Balat at the mosque.

Who is Ibrahim Kayumi?

Far less is known about Kayumi, also a first-generation American who doesn’t appear to have an online footprint under his name.

After his 2024 graduation from Council Rock High School North, he enrolled at Bucks County Community College, which has a campus in Newtown Township.

He attended classes there on a part-time basis until he was withdrawn March 9, the same day that he and Balat were formally charged with terrorism-related crimes in New York.

The federal public docket lists Kayumi as represented by an attorney with the Federal Public Defender Association.

His parents reportedly came to the U.S. from Afghanistan, and they have been naturalized U.S. citizens for more than a decade.

The family has lived in a 5,800-square-foot home in the upscale Makefield Reserve development off Stoopville Road since 2017.

Khayer Kayumi, Ibrahim’s father, was involved in Popeye’s chicken restaurant franchises in Pennsylvania and New York. In January he sued a majority shareholder in a Stroudsburg Popeye’s in Bucks County Common Pleas Court alleging breach of contract, according to court documents.

He settled a previous lawsuit that made similar allegations with the same franchise partner in 2023, according to the court docket.

Timeline of March 7 Gracie Mansion alleged terror plot

The day of the alleged terror plot, Kayumi’s mother contacted Newtown Township police to report that her son was last seen at approximately 10:30 a.m.

Khayer Kayumi told The New York Times that the family became worried after their son failed to check in with them, which was unusual.

Family members feared the teen might have completed suicide, Khayer Kayumi told the newspaper.

While conducting the missing person investigation for Kayumi, Newtown Township police said that they learned his 2010 Honda was also unaccounted for.

Shortly after 11:30 a.m., Kayumi and Balat crossed into upper Manhattan via the George Washington Bridge in a vehicle belonging to an unidentified Balat family member, federal authorities said.

The pair parked their vehicle several blocks south of Gracie Mansion and walked to the protest.

At approximately 12:15 p.m. authorities allege that Balat ignited and threw the first of two IEDs in the area where protesters were gathered.

Why do federal investigators believe they have terrorism ties?

Once in police custody, both men almost immediately professed to be supporters of ISIS and the Islamic State, according to court documents.

Kayumi told investigators that he was “affiliated with ISIS,” that he watched ISIS propaganda on his phone and that his actions were “partly inspired by ISIS.”

Balat allegedly described Islam as a religion that doesn’t stand by when people talk about the “blessed name of the prophet,” and wrote a statement pledging his “allegiance to the Islamic State.”

He also told investigators he hoped to accomplish an “even bigger” terror attack than the 2013 Boston Marathon, where three people were killed and hundreds injured.

At least one of the homemade devices Balat hurled contained a substance that tested positive for a highly sensitive and volatile chemical concoction commonly used in improvised explosive devices, including those used by ISIS.

What evidence seems to connect them to the NYC attempted bombing?

On March 2, Balat visited a Penndel fireworks store where he purchased a 20-foot green roll of slow-burning fireworks fuse, a transaction captured in store surveillance footage.

Authorities haven’t commented on whether they believe the same fuse was used on the IEDs the man had with them, but a coiled green material “consistent with hobby fuse” was in the car parked near Gracie Mansion, court documents in the criminal case stated.

Hours after the men were formally charged, police located Kayumi’s missing 2010 Honda in the Anchor Shopping Center parking lot, located about 4 miles from the Kayumi family home.

Police allege that explosive-sniffing dogs alerted on the vehicle, which was cleared of any explosives or devices, according to Newtown Township police.

Authorities haven’t revealed what items were removed from the car.

Earlier the night of March 9, law enforcement found “explosive residue” while executing a search warrant at a Public Storage business along South Flowers Mill Road in Middletown.

These materials were found in a unit allegedly connected to the terrorism suspects.