This is the latest from Minneapolis on the Somali missing youths (former refugees) case we have been following since last November. Fear is mounting that more arrests are right around the corner. Three Somalis who actually travelled to Somalia to join terrorist group Al Shabaab returned to the US and have been arrested, and according to published reports, are talking. Of course the big question everyone is waiting to see answered is, who recruited them and who paid their way?
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday:
Tension is growing within the Minneapolis Somali community as it awaits the next indictments in the federal probe of the disappearances of young men who became fighters in their homeland’s ongoing warfare.
So far, three Somali men have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges. Now several others — who either know the men or were considering returning to their homeland to fight for a terrorist group — are waiting to learn whether they, too, have been targeted by federal investigators.
Stephen L. Smith, a Minneapolis attorney who has counseled up to 20 local Somalis questioned by federal agents over the past 10 months, said recently that a number of people have contacted him and expressed “a heightened sense of concern” that they may be in legal jeopardy.
Guess they didn’t know this (or didn’t care):
Under federal law, it’s illegal for a U.S. citizen to fight in a foreign conflict. It is also illegal for Americans to support, in any way, a terrorist group.
Five of the “missing” have turned up dead in Somalia and family members believe some may have been killed on purpose by Al Shabaab when their usefulness ended.