10th Person Accused Of Plotting To Join ISIS Appears In Court
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A tenth Twin Cities terror suspect accused of trying to join ISIS appeared in federal court Thursday.
Investigators arrested 20-year-old Abdirizak Warsame in Eagan last night. He is the latest in a group of friends who prosecutors say tried to leave the country to join the Islamic State.
Charges detail how prosecutors say the young Somali men became convinced they needed to go overseas.
The accusations outline how some in the group made it to Syria. Others were kept off planes, but even after arrests, the government says Warsame kept plotting to help ISIS.
The complaint against Warsame weaves a tale of the young conspirators hatching their plans to fly overseas to join ISIS as they played basketball and video games.
Warsame was one of four conspirators who went shopping at Macy's in Southdale in May 2014 to get ready for their overseas trip.
Two days after the Macy's shopping expedition, one of the friends -- Abdi Nur -- boarded a flight at Twin Cities international and flew to Turkey, and is now believed to be fighting for ISIS.
Five of the friends, all in their late teens and early 20s, are in custody and will go on trial next May. In October, prosecutors upped the charges against them, adding conspiracy to commit murder which carries a possible life sentence.
Three others who are also in custody have pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and are expected to testify at that trial.
The charges against Warsame appear to rest heavily on information supplied by Abudllahi Yusuf, who pleaded guilty and secretly recorded conversations made by a paid FBI informant.
According to the criminal complaint, Warsame was at one point named "Emir," or leader of the group, and helped the others obtain phone numbers of ISIS contacts.
Warsame did not enter a plea on Thursday. He is being held in jail until his next court appearance on Tuesday.