Seven Minnesotans indicted for planning to join ISIS

ISIS terror suspects
Adnan Farah, Zacharia Abdurahman, Hanad Musse, Guled Omar and Hamza Ahmed were indicted Tuesday for planning to join the ISIS terrorist group.
Courtesy of federal, state and local agencies

A federal grand jury indicted seven Minnesota men Tuesday on terrorism charges for planning to join the terror group ISIS.

Six of the men — Mohamed Farah, Adnan Farah, Abdirahman Daud, Zacharia Abdurahman, Hanad Musse and Guled Omar — were arrested last month and charged with conspiring to travel or attempting to travel to join ISIS.

The seventh man, Hamza Ahmed, was indicted in February with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.

On Tuesday, the grand jury indictments were unsealed, revealing new charges of financial aid fraud against Ahmed and Musse.

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In November 2014, Ahmed and Musse used more than $1,000 from their college financial aid funds to purchase tickets from New York's JFK Airport to Europe, according to the indictment. Both were attending Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

The newly unsealed indictment also adds new charges of lying to the FBI to Mohamed Farah's case. According to the charges, Farah lied about his trip to JFK Airport last November. He told investigators he was traveling to Bulgaria and Greece for vacation, but authorities believe he was actually trying to go to Syria with Ahmed, Abdurahman and Musse.

Prosecutors say Farah and Daud drove to San Diego in April to buy fake passports in hopes of using them to travel to Syria. Both men were arrested in California.

Daud, 21, made his first court appearance in Minneapolis Tuesday. He arrived Monday from Oklahoma City, said his attorney, Bruce Nestor. A detention hearing has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday in Minneapolis before Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis.

Nestor said he'll consider proposing a supervised release plan for Daud, similar to the arrangements that other defendants in the alleged conspiracy are proposing to keep them out of jail before trial.

Ayan Farah
Ayan Farah, the mother of two sons facing charges of trying to join ISIS, outside of the federal courthouse in Minneapolis said she remained hopeful after Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis said he was open to less restrictive options for Farah's son, 19-year-old Adnan Farah, on May 12. An older son, Mohamed Farah, remains in California after his April arrest in San Diego.
Laura Yuen | MPR News

Ayan Farah, the mother of 21-year-old Mohamed Farah, said she still has not heard when her son will be transported to Minneapolis. She hasn't seen him since his arrest a month ago.

Her younger son, Adnan, 19, faces one charge of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.