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Published On: Thu, Feb 19th, 2015

Minnesota man, Hamza Ahmed, charged in connection to ISIS

A Minnesota man pulled off an airplane bound for Turkey last year has been indicted on charges of conspiring to support Islamic State and lying to federal agents investigating recruitment by militant groups, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Hamza Ahmed, 19, and three other young Minnesota men were stopped from taking international flights from New York on Nov. 8 after traveling by bus from Minneapolis, prosecutors said.

Ahmed has been detained since he was charged in early February with making a false statement to federal agents and is also charged with attempting to provide material support to Islamic State militants, prosecutors said in a statement.

photo/Islamic State flag

photo/Islamic State flag

Ahmed is at least the fourth person from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area charged during an investigation into people traveling or trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said.

Dozens of people from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, many of them Somali-Americans, have traveled or attempted to travel overseas to support groups such as Islamic State or al Shabaab since 2007, according to prosecutors.

Luger said his office is committed to prosecuting those who attempt to provide material support to Islamic State and other organizations and to working with community members to stop the recruiting cycle.

Ahmed and the other men stopped at John F. Kennedy International Airport in November. All four men are all 19 or 20 years old and from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, prosecutors said.

Ahmed was flying to Istanbul, which has been used as a gateway to Syria for people joining Islamic State militants.

Ahmed told agents he was traveling alone and did not know the other men, but electronic records showed he likely bought a bus ticket within minutes from the same computer as one of the men and they went to a bus station together, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have not said whether the other three men traveling with Ahmed have been charged.

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About the Author

- Catherine "Kaye" Wonderhouse, a proud descendant of the Wunderhaus family is the Colorado Correspondent who will add more coverage, interviews and reports from this midwest area.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    I know this particular individual quite well. I have still yet to be informed on the other individuals who were traveling with him. I grew up playing with these guys, its sad how they were looking for a way out of it all. I’m also Muslim and am completely opposed of the ideology of Isis. They’re not Muslim but using the name of Islam to gain its power. Its in equivalency with the KKK and the Christian belief.

    Is there any way to to find out the names of the others apprehended with Hamza? Or their names can’t be shared if they haven’t been charged?

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