Man who allegedly tried to expose FBI informant is ordered held

A Twin Cities man arrested last week for allegedly threatening a federal official via Twitter was ordered detained.

The case will go to a grand jury.

Mahamed Abukar Said was arrested Friday after he sent a series of tweets in response to the arrest of six men charged with trying to join ISIS.

Said's attorney, Aaron Thom, said his client has a job and is a full time student at St. Paul Community College. He said Said was upset with the arrest of the men and "wasn't a threat to anyone."

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But prosecutors argued that the man has admitted to making the threats and that there is "no reason for us not to believe him."

Said's father, Abukar Ahmed, said his son was under the influence of drugs when he sent the tweets, and wasn't serious. The judge ordered Said detained based on his history of committing crimes and failing to appear in court.

Said was already on probation in Hennepin County for a drug-related offense when he was arrested.

Federal Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel said Said had been arrested several times and had provided false information to the police. Before he reached 17, Said had committed two domestic assaults. At 17, he failed to appear in court in connection with the consumption of liquor.

At 18, he was charged with giving a false name and ID to the police, and pleaded guilty to fraud in Ramsey County and a separate fraud charge in Hennepin County.

According to the criminal complaint, Said, of Minneapolis, tweeted "Ima whack that us attorney general," "Best believe I'll kill for those guys if they don't free my brothers," and "either they're gon free my bros or they gon have a massacre happen then they gon take me too."

In federal court April 23, an FBI agent explained details of the government's arrangements with a confidential informant. The informant was said to be key in the government's case against six men who had been arrested on charges of conspiring or attempting to aid the terror group ISIS in Syria.

Shortly after that hearing, Said allegedly tweeted a photo of the supposed informant.