December 22, 2015 – update – at a court hearing, an FBI Special Agent Daniel Higgins testified that American ISIS terrorist Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, had been bragging of plans to shoot down airplanes at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport with rocket-propelled grenades.   Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame had previously worked at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport as a baggage handler, working with a company handling jet fuel, and working with a company that de-ices planes.    U.S. Magistrate Judge Becky Thorson ruled at the hearing that there is sufficient probable cause to support the charges, and that Warsame should not be released from jail. The case will now go to a grand jury for an indictment.  The background investigation into American ISIS terrorist Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame found nothing that disqualified him from getting a security badge to work at an American airport.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News also reported that “[a]n airport spokesman confirmed to MPR News that Warsame worked there for several months starting in December 2013. He first worked for a company that de-ices planes, Integrated Deicing Services, and then got a job for Swissport, a company that handles fuel. Airport officials said they screen job applicants against federal databases, and there was nothing in Warsame’s background to deny granting him a security badge.”

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On December 10, 2015, a 10th American ISIS terrorist, Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame was arrested, as part of the Minnesota gang of American ISIS terrorist group.  According to the criminal complaint, Warsame was at one point the leader of a group of young, Somali-American from the Minnesota Twin Cities area, who tried to flee the country in April to aid the ISIS terrorist group.  He was urged to rob the U.S. government to finance his efforts.  He becomes the 16th known recent American ISIS terrorist recruit from the Minnesota area.

See also additional details at ILJ report.

The FBI reported that:

Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, 20, of Eagan, Minnesota, was charged by criminal complaint with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), announced Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger of the District of Minnesota and Special Agent in Charge Richard T. Thornton of the FBI’s Minneapolis Division.

“Abdirizak Warsame conspired with others to travel to Syria to fight with ISIL,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “Counterterrorism is the National Security Division’s highest priority, and we will continue to work to stem the flow of foreign fighters abroad and to bring to justice those who seek to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations.”

“This defendant is the 10th Twin Cities’ man charged as part of a broad conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL,” said U.S. Attorney Luger. “The FBI and prosecutors in my office continue to work without pause to keep Minnesotans safe and bring these defendants to justice.”

According to the complaint and documents filed in court, in spring 2014, Warsame and his co-conspirators began meeting to watch propaganda videos that glorified religious violence and to discuss their aspirations to travel to Syria to join ISIL. Members of the group, including Warsame, discussed ways to leave the United States and travel to Syria, despite the fact that law enforcement was intensely scrutinizing the group. At one such meeting, Guled Omar was elected “emir,” or leader, of the group. Later in 2014, when Omar was planning to depart for Syria, Omar appointed Warsame to replace him as emir for the remaining co-conspirators.

According to the complaint and documents filed in court, during the same period, Warsame provided $200 to a co-conspirator, Adnan Farah, so that Farah could obtain an expedited U.S. passport to travel overseas to join ISIL. Warsame also applied for an expedited passport during this time, but his application was initially denied.

According to the complaint and documents filed in court, Warsame repeatedly attempted to obtain a telephone number or other contact information of ISIL members, including ISIL member H.K. In June 2014, Warsame specifically attempted to obtain this contact information so that he could pass it along to Y.J., who was attempting to travel from Turkey to Syria to join ISIL.

According to the complaint and documents filed in court, in April 2015, Warsame actively encouraged Omar and other co-conspirators to travel to Syria through Mexico, but did not plan to join their group because he was planning to travel with his family to East Africa. From East Africa, Warsame planned to either break free from his family and travel to Syria, or wait in Somalia for a time when, he believed, al-Shabaab would pledge allegiance to ISIL, thus expanding ISIL to Somalia.

According to the criminal complaint and documents filed in court, on April 2, 2015, Warsame recounted a conversation he had with Abdi Nur, before Nur left the United States for Syria. In that exchange, Warsame told Omar that he proposed to Nur that they rob people in order to finance their travel to Syria, which Nur rejected and suggested instead that they rob the government.