The FBI’s investigation into the Somali “youths” who went missing has reached the grand jury stage. Fox News reports:
Federal authorities are looking to bring terror-related charges against one or more Somali-Americans from the Minneapolis area, and witnesses to the case have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury, according to a Muslim leader in the area and a woman who said she testified before the grand jury this morning.
We’ve been following the story of these Somalis for a while. Our posts are here (mostly Ann’s). The article says the FBI has been investigating the missing men for months.
The FBI has interviewed at least 50 people in the Somali community and subpoenaed at least 10 people to testify before a grand jury in Minneapolis, according to Farhan Hurre, the director of the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in St. Paul, one of the largest mosques in the Twin Cities. He said most of those subpoenaed are students at the University of Minnesota. At least two of the men still missing were students at the University of Minnesota.
The FBI didn’t want to comment to the reporter. But Hurre had some information:
Hurre said he was told a case has been opened against at least one unidentified person. He said authorities are now “trying to bring the pieces together of what’s going on here” in Minneapolis. Specifically, he said investigators are trying to determine who organized the missing group of men, who financed them and how were they recruited.
Hurre said the mosque has received threatening emails and phone calls, and the media attention and backlash are “destroying our community.” A meeting between the FBI and mosque members or officials will be held Thursday; the mosque offered such a meeting last month.
At a forum in Washington two weeks ago, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the trend of young men “radicalized and recruited” in the United States to take up arms overseas “in particular concerns us.”
“It raises the question of whether these young men will one day come home, and, if so, what they might undertake here,” he said.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security is holding hearings on the Somali-terrorism issue today. Ann will have a report later.
Hat tip to Andy McCarthy at the Corner, who stays on top of terrorism-related news.
Note from Ann: I have been keeping a running list of all the coverage of this issue ever since we started following the story in November, it is here.