FBI Began Investigating Minn. Women In Summer 2008
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- An FBI agent testifying in the trial of two Minnesota women accused of funneling money to a terrorist group in Somalia says authorities began investigating them in the summer of 2008.
FBI Special Agent Michael Wilson testified Thursday in the case against 35-year-old Amina Farah Ali and 64-year-old Hawo Mohamed Hassan. They say they were helping the needy.
Wilson says agents in Minnesota got a tip from FBI headquarters that Ali had been in contact with a "prohibited group." Agents set up a wiretap on Ali's phones in September 2008.
Recordings of some of intercepted calls were played in court Thursday. Prosecutors used the calls and records from money transfer businesses to try to prove that Ali gave money to al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group.
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