Minneapolis: arrests made in case of Youth traficking; report: PICS

[General Duke]

Court records detail Minnesota Somalis' path to terrorism

Court records, and the cooperation of one of two Somali men charged, detail recruitment and training.

 

By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune

 

Last update: July 15, 2009 - 7:28 AM

 

First-ever details of Minnesota men training with terrorists in Somalia -- learning to fire weapons, building training camps -- came to light in court documents released Tuesday.

 

One of the two Somali men indicted for providing support to those terrorists pleaded guilty months ago and has been cooperating with the FBI, according to those same documents.

 

Papers filed by the attorney for Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 25, of Seattle also provide the first clue to how Isse and other young Somalis were recruited to fight, saying he was approached "at a house of worship."

 

The motion provides no other details about the place of recruitment. Up to 20 Twin Cities men of Somali descent have disappeared over the past two years, and many of them worshipped or socialized at Abubakar as-Saddique, the largest Somali mosque in Minneapolis.

 

Farhan (Omar) Hurre, the mosque director, has consistently said that the mosque does not preach violence and didn't play a role in the disappearances.

 

At least four of the missing men have died since returning to Somalia -- three since early June -- and community members say there are reports of other deaths.

 

Isse, who has family in the Twin Cities, has admitted to investigators that he trained with terrorists in Somalia, traveled and stayed in houses with Shirwa Ahmed, the Minneapolis man who blew himself up in a suicide bombing last October in northern Somalia. Isse even helped construct a terrorist training camp, according to a previously sealed federal response to motions filed by his attorney, Paul Engh.

 

The documents detailing Isse's admitted involvement in terrorist training were unsealed after the first appearance in court Monday by the other man indicted on charges of supporting terrorists, Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, of Brooklyn Park.

[General Duke]

Part 2

 

The men are the first to be publicly charged in the sweeping probe -- one of the most far-reaching U.S. counterterrorism efforts since 9/11. Special Agent E.K. Wilson said Tuesday that these initial indictments are just the "beginning of an ongoing investigation."

 

Isse pleaded guilty April 17 to a single count of providing material support to terrorists.

 

In his motion to amend the conditions of Isse's detention Engh writes: "Mr. Isse will not be the last defendant indicted. The individuals who recruited him to go to Somalia have been targeted for prosecution. Once charged, they will face a life sentence. Recruiting young men to blow themselves up while killing the innocent at a crowded marketplace is a definition of evil. And this recruitment happened at a house of worship."

 

The motion was denied.

 

Engh has declined to comment on the case, other than to acknowledge that he represents Isse, citing national security rules.

 

Stephen L. Smith, an attorney who has represented five or six people who testified before the grand jury investigating the case, said though many of the missing men spent time at Abubakar, he does not believe anyone in a leadership position there recruited men to fight for al-Shabaab, the Somali group with links to Al-Qaida.

 

"There have certainly been questions along those lines," Smith said of the grand jury investigation. "But every client I have represented has not in any way suggested there was any nefarious exposure to this kind of stuff, this type of ideology, from the mosque."

 

Isse's story

 

According to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney, Isse was arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Feb. 24. He said he was on his way to Tanzania to participate in an internship with his uncle.

 

He had previously left Minneapolis in December 2007 for Somalia, traveling as part of "an agreement with several other individuals from the Minneapolis area to travel to Somalia and fight against Ethiopian soldiers whom they believed to be occupying the country."

 

Isse traveled with one Minneapolis man and met with two others in Dubai.

 

While in Somalia, Isse "learned that his conspiracy was affiliated with al-Shabaab," the U.S. Attorney's office wrote. Al-Shabaab is considered a "militant jihadist organization" by federal officials that has waged war to impose Sharia, or strict Islamic law, in Somalia.

 

Isse and the others lived in houses provided by al-Shabaab, trained with weapons and traveled and lived with other al-Shabaab members. One of those men was Shirwa Ahmed. Isse even spent a couple weeks helping build a training camp.

 

After a week or two at the camp, the U.S. Attorney said, Isse decided he did not want to stay. He and another man from Minnesota left, while other Minnesotans stayed to continue their training.

 

After visiting family members in Somalia, Isse returned to the U.S. in May 2008. Even after Shirwa Ahmed's death, Isse stayed in contact with "other individuals who had knowledge of the ongoing conspiracy to recruit al-Shabaab members from among the Somali-American population in Minneapolis," according to court papers.

 

Aryan Isse, Abdifatah Isse's cousin, said the entire family was shocked to hear of his arrest. Isse, an engineering student in his home state of Washington, was "always one of the good kids," she said. "He never smoked, he never did anything."

 

The family didn't even know Isse had been arrested until a few months ago, she said. Until then, they had frantically tried to find him.

 

"When he came to America, he was willing to study to become somebody. He was willing to help his family, his brothers and sisters. Whoever talked him into this stuff, it's no good, because now he is paying the price," Aryan Isse said.

 

Maruf's role

 

Zakaria Maruf, one of the Somali men said to have been involved in recruiting others in Minneapolis, was killed last weekend in Mogadishu. It is not clear how he died.

 

Somalis who grew up with Maruf recall an angry young man who seemed to mellow in recent years after getting involved at Abubakar as-Saddique, where he sometimes volunteered at mosque conventions.

 

A community activist who works with Somali youth said that although Maruf was prone to fights, he "had a leadership presence where people used to follow him."

 

Gandi Mohamed, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Maruf and who worships at Abubakar, said he doubts Maruf acted alone.

 

Mohamed said Maruf was a hothead who often picked fights he couldn't win. Although "he did calm down and mature" in recent years, Mohamed said, Maruf lacked the "personality, intellect and temperament" to mastermind an extensive recruiting effort.

 

"For me to go to Somalia right now, I would need my elders to get up there and make connections for me to be safe," he said. "For him to get there and be connected and be a leader in al-Shabaab, he'd have to have someone influential to make the connection for him.''

 

Staff writers Richard Meryhew and Allie Shah contributed to this report. James Walsh • 612-673-7428

[General Duke]

Abdifitah Yusef Isse

 

[Abtigiis]

War Dadka la xidhxidhay ama yarkii la dilay ee Jamal Bana inuu na ku jirin wiilkii yaraa ee UNKNOWN1 ahaa yaa huba?

 

Since yesterday, I was thinking if Jamal Al bana is actually Unkown1.

[General Duke]

In his motion to amend the conditions of Isse's detention Engh writes:

"Mr. Isse will not be the last defendant indicted. The individuals who recruited him to go to Somalia have been targeted for prosecution. Once charged, they will face a life sentence. Recruiting young men to blow themselves up while killing the innocent at a crowded marketplace is a definition of evil. And this recruitment happened at a house of worship."

[General Duke]

Minnesota Men Charged With Recruiting For Somali Insurg...

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Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 @09:41am CST

 

(Minneapolis, MN) -- Two Minnesota men of Somali descent were charged Monday for recruiting immigrants from Somalia to fight a jihad alongside Islamist fighters in the East African nation.

 

Both were arrested on one count of conspiracy to kill, kidnap or injure people overseas and aiding a terrorist group.

 

Over the last few months more than a dozen Somali men have disappeared from the Minneapolis area.

 

Three have lost their lives in Somalia.

 

Authorities believe the men joined a group called al-Shabaab with suspected ties to al-Qaeda.

 

The enlistment of immigrants allegedly took place from September 2007 to December 2008.

 

Somalia's president has recently come out and asked Somalia immigrants not return to their country to fight.

 

FBI officials continue their investigation of what might be a much larger nationwide recruiting push of Somali citizens to fight in Somalia.

 

More indictments could come within a week.

 

　

[General Duke]

Man With Connections To Terrorists Arrested In Seattle

Posted: 2:52 pm PDT July 14, 2009

Updated: 4:30 pm PDT July 14, 2009

 

SEATTLE -- A three-page federal indictment lists a man arrested in Seattle as one of two men involved in the disappearance of Somali-American men from Minneapolis.

 

Federal investigators said Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, who’s been charged with providing material support to terrorists, is involved in the disappearance of 20 men.

 

Isse has jumped between Mogadishu, Minneapolis and was finally arrested during his last trip to Seattle. Federal agents fear that there is a possibility that these missing men may use passports to re-enter the United States and possibly stage an attack.

 

“We hope there will be more arrests as to who is behind this, who is the mastermind,” said Omar Jamal, head of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minneapolis.

 

This case is seen as one of the most critical investigations on domestic terrorism since 9-11.

[Gabbal]

He had previously left Minneapolis in December 2007 for Somalia

 

Al Shabaab was designated a terrorist organization in 2008. Perhaps the young man has a good chance?

[General Duke]

^^^These men are just foot soldiers and they are talking, but more mayhem is coming.

[Gabbal]

You act as if you have been personally impacted. What's going on?

[Gabbal]

Isse has criminal convictions in Cheney Municipal Court for unlawful issuance of bank checks in 2005 and minor in possession of alcohol in 2003. Property records show he had at least three addresses in Cheney between February 2005 and February 2007.

 

Source

Does anyone else notice a running parallel with all these recruits?

[General Duke]

^^^I have adeer, one of the young boys who lost his life Burhan Hassasn was a relative.

[Che -Guevara]

^Majority from the kids are the "family".

[General Duke]

^^^Gabba there are two groups. The first group seem older, street toughs "reformed". The second wave were younger mostly better educated employed with clean records.

 

Those who sent them are the main targets of the investigation these are the small fishes.

[General Duke]

Somali terror case

By David Hanners

dhanners@pioneerpres s.com

Updated: 07/15/2009 03:05:09 PM CDT

 

The order to seal the case comes a day before a magistrate is to hold a detention hearing for one of the men, Salah Osman Ahmed.

 

An indictment accusing Ahmed and Abdifatah Yusuf Isse of terrorism-related crimes was unsealed Monday, five months after it was handed up by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis. It was made public after Ahmed, of Brooklyn Park, made his first appearance before U.S. Magistrate Susan Richard Nelson.

 

But a judge ordered the case sealed early today. It wasn't immediately clear who had ordered the closure — either U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum

 

or Nelson. Rosenbaum's office did not immediately return a call for comment. Nelson's office referred a caller to the U.S. district clerk's office, which also did not immediately return a call for comment.

Asked about the file, a deputy clerk in the clerk's office said it no longer existed. Similarly, it had disappeared on the federal court system's PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) facility.

 

W. Anders Folk, an assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, declined to say whether the case was sealed at the request of the government. On Tuesday, Folk filed a notice with the court saying that in Ahmed's case, prosecutors intended to use "information obtained or derived from electronic surveillance and/or physical searches"

 

Local Somali leaders have said that perhaps 20 men from the Twin Cities have returned to Somalia, and that at least four of them have been killed in the fighting.

 

Isse and Ahmed were each charged with a single count of providing material support to terrorists, as well as a count of conspiracy to "kill, kidnap, maim and injure." The alleged incidents occurred between September 2007 and December 2008, the indictment claims.

 

The dates coincide with the disappearance of the first wave of young Somali men from the Twin Cities

 

The material support, the indictment alleges, was "namely personnel including themselves, knowing and intending that the material support and resources" were going to be used to kill, kidnap or injure people in a foreign country.

 

The conspiracy charge alleges that they conspired with each other and others to engage in terrorism.

 

The indictment claims that Ahmed boarded a Northwest Flight in at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Dec. 6, 2007, and flew to Amsterdam, "with a final destination of Somalia."

 

Ahmed is also charged with making two false statements to FBI agents. He allegedly told the FBI that he didn't know anyone on the flights, and he is also accused of telling agents that he was traveling alone