Man from Lansing pleads guilty to supporting the Islamic State terrorist group
A Lansing man has pleaded guilty to supporting the Islamic State group, according to court records.
Muse Abdikadir Muse pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiring to providing material support to a designated terrorist organization during a Tuesday afternoon hearing in U.S. District Court, according to a plea agreement. He originally pleaded not guilty in January 2019.
Muse, 21, faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervision once released. He may also lose his citizenship.
As part of the plea agreement, the government will dismiss two other charges — attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and making a false statement in a passport application.
Muse also has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and other investigators as they continue to proceed with charges against two other Lansing men.
The State Journal attempted to reach four attorneys who are listed on a federal court docket as representing Muse. None of them responded.
Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Muse almost a year ago at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids after he checked in for a flight that officials called “a series of destinations” on his way to Mogadishu, Somalia.
Investigators said he intended to join an Islamic State group once he arrived.
Two of Muse’s relatives — Mohamud Abdikadir Muse and Mohamed Salat Haji — were arrested the same day near the airport’s Transportation Security Administration checkpoint.
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All three men were born in Kenya — Muse Muse in a Somali refugee camp, an FBI agent testified last year — and have lived in Lansing since at least late 2016.
The arrests came after a lengthy FBI investigation using Facebook and undercover agents during which all three defendants pledged allegiance to ISIS in self-recorded videos, FBI Special Agent Paul Dunham said while questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris O’Connor during a January 2019 hearing.
Mohamud Muse and Haji both face one charge of conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and another of attempting to do the same.
Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Muse almost a year ago at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids after he checked in for a flight that officials called “a series of destinations” on his way to Mogadishu, Somalia.
Investigators said he intended to join an Islamic State group once he arrived.
Two of Muse’s relatives — Mohamud Abdikadir Muse and Mohamed Salat Haji — were arrested the same day near the airport’s Transportation Security Administration checkpoint.
Source: Lansing State Journal
