Six More Somali-Americans Arrested Trying to Join Islamic State

On Sunday, six men from Minnesota were arrested for trying to join Islamic State, according to charges stated by Minnesota US Attorney Andrew Luger in a press conference held Monday. The six men were arrested in Minneapolis and San Diego as part of a Joint Terrorism Task Force operation. All six appear to be of Somali ancestry, similar to the case of Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, who was indicted last Friday. At least 22 Americans of Somali ancestry have left Minnesota to join groups such as Islamic State and Al-Shabaab so far. To his credit, Andrew Luger noted that Minnesota has a terror recruiting problem among Minneapolis’ large Somali refugee community, and urged them to do whatever they could to stop groups such as Islamic State from recruiting from the Somali community’s young men.

Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, Adnan Farah, Hanad Mustafe Musse, and Guled Ali Omar were all arrested in Minneapolis Sunday. The other two, Abdirahman Yasin Daud and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah were arrested the same day in California as they attempted to drive from Minneapolis to San Diego. The six men planned to travel to Syria by flying from either New York City or San Diego to countries near Syria, and the six reportedly lied to FBI agents when apprehended. Mohamed Farah, Abdirahman Daud and Hanad Musse had been previously stopped at a New York City airport in November along with a man named Hamza Ahmed but had not been charged until now. Ahmed was indicted on charges of lying to the FBI during an investigation. At least nine men from Minnesota have now been charged with attempting to give aid to Islamic State.

Luger said that the men charged on Monday had been receiving encouragement to join ISIS from Abdi Nur. Nur was a former resident of Minnesota who successfully boarded a May 29 flight bound for Turkey, which is known as an easy access point to Syria. Luger said in the press conference that Nur has undertaken the position of “chief foreign fighter recruiter” for his associates back in Minneapolis.

Law enforcement officials are looking for ways to identify Islamic State sympathizers in time to intervene. For example, Nur, went to a Macy’s department store to buy Nike apparel just prior to his departure. The FBI is considering using the purchase of athletic gear as a last minute indicator of an individual preparing to leave to join jihadist fighters abroad. While that may be a useful metric for determining imminence, it’s far more vital that law enforcement develop the ability to recognize as early as possible, the process of indoctrination.

Mr. Nur continues to be active on social media, even to the point of creating a website titled “Ask.fm” which allowed angry Minneapolis residents and friends to ask any question they wanted.

“Who brain washed you?” one asked.

Mr. Nur unwavering reply, “The Words of Allah, The Quran, that’s what brain washed me,” he wrote.