WASHINGTON D.C. – Six defendants – Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19, Adnan Farah, 19, Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19, and Guled Ali Omar, 20, – were arrested in Minneapolis , and Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 21, and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21, were arrested in California after driving from Minneapolis to San Diego.
The arrests took place Sunday, officials said. The defendants planned to travel to Syria.
A criminal complaint was filed Monday charging six Minnesota men with conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIS.
“The six defendants charged in the complaint allegedly planned to travel to Syria as part of their conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL,” said Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin.
“One of the National SecurityAt highest priorities is to identify, disrupt, and hold accountable those who provide or attempt to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations”
The FBI had been conducting an investigation into this case for the last 10 months.
Authorities said there was no credible evidence that anyone in the United States was threatened.
“To be clear, we have a terror recruiting problem in Minnesota, and this case demonstrates how difficult it is to put an end to recruiting here,” said Andrew M. Luger, a federal prosecutor in Minnesota.
At least nine Minnesotans have now been charged as part of this conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL. The men are all alleged associates and friends of one another.