GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Three Lansing residents were arrested Monday at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids for "conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan said. ISIS was classified as a foreign terrorist organization in 2014.
Muse Abdikadir Muse, 20, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 23, and Mohamed Salat Haji, 26, are facing a conspiracy charge, punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. Muse Muse and Mohamud Muse are brothers; Haji is their cousin.
Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Muse Muse at the airport after he checked in for flights to travel from Michigan to Mogadishu, Somalia. Shortly after his arrest, law enforcement arrested Mohamud Muse and Haji.
A criminal complaint against the three men was unsealed on Tuesday. It describes the FBI's investigation, which started in April 2016 when an FBI review of Muhamud Muse's Facebook account found posts that were "pro-ISIS in nature."
Undercover agents with the FBI made Facebook accounts posing as an ISIS recruiter, a man from Somalia and a man from Chicago who converted to Islam. These agents made contact with the three men through Facebook.
In one message, Muhamud Muse told the agent acting as a recruiter that "he planned to die with a gun in his hand fighting for ISIS."
The criminal complaint says that all three defendants pledged allegiance to ISIS through videos that they recorded themselves and sent to the undercover agents.
The FBI issued a search warrant for communications between Muse Muse and Haji. They allegedly discussed with each other their "desire to join ISIS, kill non-believers and even to potentially use a car for a martyrdom operation to run down non-believers here in the United States if they could not travel overseas to fight for ISIS," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. In one message, Haji wrote that he liked how ISIS burned people, saying "I love it man," according to the complaint.
In December, Muhamud Muse met with an undercover agent in Benton Harbor. According to the FBI, he told the agent that if he was unable to join ISIS he would conduct a vehicle-ramming attack "like the one that happened in France."
The criminal complaint said the Muse Muse got married in June 2018, but his wife was willing to come with him as he planned to join ISIS. Muse Muse told an undercover agent that his wife is pregnant, and the baby is expected in March.
Muse Muse allegedly purchased the airline tickets earlier in January and that Haji and Mohamud Muse helped him buy the tickets. They also drove him to the airport, allegedly knowing that the purpose of the trip was for Muse Muse to join and fight for ISIS.
Muse Muse was arrested while going through the TSA line at the airport. Muhamud Muse and Haji were arrested in the terminal.
All three of the men were born in Kenya. Haji is a naturalized U.S. citizen and the Muse brothers received U.S. citizenship as minors when their parents were naturalized.
Following the arrests, federal agents executed a search warrant at a residence in Lansing where Muse Muse and Mohamud Muse were living.
The three defendants were scheduled to make their initial appearance in court on Monday to hear the charges against them. They will remain in custody until their trial.
Online court records do not list attorneys for the defendants.
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Rose White is a digital producer for 13 ON YOUR SIDE. You can contact her at rwhite@13onyourside.com or on Twitter.