MN: Federal grand jury investigation seeking information on recruitment of Somali youths for Islamic terrorism

Are Minnesota mosques responsible?

One more story out of ‘Little Mogadishu’ Minnesota on the Somali refugees turned Jihadists.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune (hat tip: Deb):

Be sure to see Pamela Geller on the story, here (“mosquing the neighborhood”), where she puts this all in a larger perspective.

Al-Farooq Youth and Family Center is under the microscope. Photo: http://bloomingtonmn.gov/main_top/3_homecomm/afyfc/afyfc.htm

A federal grand jury in St. Paul is investigating a group of Somali-Americans who were allegedly conspiring to join terrorists fighting in Syria, according to sources with direct knowledge of the probe.

The proceedings, which have been going on all summer, appear to be centered on trying to find out who is behind efforts to convince 20 to 30 people that they should leave Minnesota to fight in the Middle East. That question has stymied federal agents for the last year as they have struggled to build inroads and trust with the Muslim community in the Twin Cities in order to cut off a new pipeline of recruits.

Seven years ago, about two dozen young Somali men from Minnesota were recruited to fight in Somalia with another terrorist group, Al-Shabab. As many as nine were reported killed, and after a series of indictments and high-profile convictions, federal authorities and community leaders believed that the recruiting had stopped.

Instead, it has shifted to a new region.

[….]

The group under investigation is mostly composed of young Somalis who have been frequenting the Al Farooq Youth and Family Center and mosque in Bloomington. There, they may have fallen under the influence of Amir Meshal, a 31-year-old American of Egyptian descent who allegedly spoke often to them about joining in a jihad, those sources said.

Meshal, whose alleged actions at the mosque were reported in June to the FBI, was already well-known to counterterrorism agents. In 2007, agents arrested him in Kenya after he fled Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. He was accused of having received weapons training in an Al-Qaida camp and of serving as a translator for the terrorist group’s leaders in Somalia, according to court documents.

See our post yesterday on the Minnesota Somali nexus to terrorism in the Middle East and in Africa and follow links to other posts.

Addendum:  Don’t forget! We brought almost 1,000 new Somalis to America just last month, here, bringing the number for the year so far to 8,278 (a number approaching the three years during the Bush Presidency when we resettled over 10,000 each year).

Spread the love

Leave a Reply