Thread: Somali-Born Teen Plots Car Bombing in US Northwest

VOA News 27 November 2010 U.S. prosecutors say an Oregon teenager of Somali descent has been arrested in an alleged terrorist plot to car-bomb a Christmas tree lighting event in the northwestern city of Portland, Oregon Friday night.

Authorities say 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud was taken into custody by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation after he dialed a cell phone intending to detonate a bomb, but instead rang for the FBI in a sting operation.

Mohamud had earlier been given phony explosives by undercover officers, who first learned of his alleged plot last year.

Prosecutors say Mohamud unwittingly unveiled his plan to undercover officers by e-mail several months ago, while believing he was contacting an accomplice in Pakistan.

Mohamud will appear in federal court in Portland Monday on a criminal complaint of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

How Is that (multi-cultural ) thing working out for ya We are letting these people Into our country,and they are helping to try and destroy us. All of this nonsense has to stop... TS http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Som ... 02949.html

Related... http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/27/ore ... ot/?hpt=T1 (CNN) -- A 19-year-old has been arrested in connection with a plot to detonate a vehicle bomb at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon, on Friday evening, the Justice Department announced.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He is a resident of Corvallis, Oregon, and a student at Oregon State University, according to the FBI. (Funny how CNN goes out of It's way to report that he Is a "natural born citizen",but they will very seldom tell the reader If a perp Is an Illegal)... How did they find out where he was born? Were both of his parents given asylum here

Mohamud was arrested by the FBI and Portland Police Bureau after he attempted to detonate what he believed to be an explosives-laden van that was parked near the tree-lighting ceremony in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Justice

Department said in a written statement, but the device was actually inert.

"The threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale," said Arthur Balizan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. "At the same time, I want to reassure the people of this community that, at every turn, we denied him the ability to actually carry out the attack."

The arrest was the culmination of a long-term undercover operation during which Mohamud had been monitored closely as his alleged bomb plot developed, the Justice Department said. Officials said the public was never in danger from the device.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit written by an FBI special agent, Mohamud was in e-mail communication in August 2009 with a person believed to be involved in terrorist activities. In December, that person was "located in the northwest frontier province of Pakistan," the affidavit states.

The two communicated regularly, the affidavit states, and "using coded language, they discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to prepare for violent jihad."

Mohamud attempted to contact another associate who he thought would help facilitate his travel overseas, the affidavit states, but "because Mohamud used the wrong e-mail address in his efforts to contact [the second associate], he never successfully contacted him to arrange travel."

An undercover FBI employee contacted Mohamud in June under the guise of being affiliated with the associate who was in Pakistan, according to the affidavit. Mohamud met with the undercover operative on July 30 in Portland.

Mohamud allegedly told the undercover operative that he had written articles that were published in Jihad Recollections, an online magazine that advocated violent jihad.

"Mohamud also indicated that he wanted to become 'operational,'" the Justice Department said. "Asked what he meant by 'operational,' Mohamud stated that he wanted to put an 'explosion' together, but needed help."

At a meeting in August, the Justice Department said, Mohamud allegedly told undercover FBI operatives he had been thinking of committing violent jihad since the age of 15. According to the affidavit, Mohamud then told undercover operatives that he had identified a potential target for a bomb: the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Authorities said an FBI operative pointed out that lots of children would be at such an event, but Mohamud said he was looking for a "huge mass that will ... be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays." Officials said Mohamud also stated, "... it's in Oregon; and Oregon like you know, nobody ever thinks about it."

According to the affidavit, Mohamud and the undercover FBI operatives traveled to a remote area in Lincoln County, Oregon, on November 4 and detonated a bomb hidden in a backpack as a test. During the drive back to Corvallis, the agents asked Mohamud about whether he could look at the bodies of those who would be killed in the upcoming attack in Portland, the Justice Department said.

Mohamud replied, "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured," according to the affidavit.

On Friday, Mohamud met one of the FBI operatives at a predetermined location, the affidavit states. Mohamud dialed a number "in an unsuccessful attempt to detonate the device." Mohamud allegedly dialed the number again before he was taken custody.

"This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people -- even here in Oregon -- who are determined to kill Americans," Dwight C. Holton, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, said in a statement . "The good work of law enforcement protected Oregonians in this case -- and we have no reason to believe there is any continuing threat arising from this case."

Mohamud is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Portland on Monday, the Justice Department said. If convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, Mohamud faces a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Related... Somali Refugees Establishing Culture in Greater Minnesota Somali Refugees Establishing Culture in Greater Minnesota, Still Face Financial Issues
WILLMAR, Minn- In the heart of Willmar is a nexus for Somali refugees at the Centerpoint mall who left their war torn country in Africa for a better life in Minnesota.

The town is home to roughly 2,000 people from Somalia and the mall has several stores where people can buy clothes and food specific to their culture. Abdibu moved to the area one year ago and often shops at the local stores.

"You can buy Somali clothes and some of them are very pretty," Abdibu said. "Female shirts, dresses and so many kinds of purifications that they use at home are all here."

The local Somali stores are important to muslims who can not eat pork.

"The food has to be produced a certain way and we're able to get our meat here (at the local grocery store)," Abdibu said.

While Somali refugees have made a home for themselves in Minnesota many commented they still struggle to find work. Several refugees still do not speak english which limits their possibilities.

"The hardest thing I had to face was not having a job and it was hard not speaking the language to get a job," Willmar Somali Utbad Sash said. "You have to speak the language you have to know the language and I didn't know anything about it."

Sash has lived in the United States since 2007 and does not speak english. Sash commented money is more of an issue now that she lives in Minnesota.

"Here if you don't pay the rent you can be evicted and you can not get another place," Sash said. "In Somalia you can say 'wait for me next month' and that person would wait but here it doesn't work like that."

Several Refugees are still waiting for relatives to come over and often have a hard time financing trips back to their homeland.

"I'm back here in the United States and she's (his wife) in Kenya and it's hard because she's expecting," Abdibu said.

Written for the web by Brian Collins
bcollins@ksax.com
http://ksax.com/article/stories/s1825934.shtml

Take these people in as refugees and they STILL want to blow us up.

Somali-Born Teen Who Plotted Car Bombing Contacted Suspected Terrorist

Published November 27, 2010
FoxNews.com
Comments (2497)


The Somali-born teenager who was arrested in a sting operation while trying to blow up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., e-mailed an alleged terrorist last year, authorities said.

U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton released federal court documents to The Associated Press and the Oregonian newspaper that show the sting operation began in June after an undercover agent learned that 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud had been in regular e-mail contact with an "unindicted associate" in Pakistan's northwest, a frontier region where Al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are strong.

An FBI document reveals that Mohamud had contact with the suspected terrorist in Aug. 2009. In Dec. 2009, Mohamud discussed the possibility of traveling to Pakistan to engage in violent jihad.

Mohamud was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him. The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said.

Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" -- Arabic for "God is great!" -- Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.


"The threat was very real," said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale,"

A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that federal agents began investigating the suspect after receiving a tip from someone who was concerned about the teenager.

The FBI affidavit that outlined the investigation alleges that Mohamud planned the attack for months, at one point mailing bomb components to FBI operatives, whom he believed were assembling the device.

According to the official, Mohamud hatched the plan on his own and without any instruction from a foreign terrorist organization, and he planned the details, including where to park the van for the maximum number of casualties.

The affidavit said Mohamud was warned several times about the seriousness of his plan, that women and children could be killed, and that he could back out, but he told agents: "Since I was 15 I thought about all this;" and "It's gonna be a fireworks show ... a spectacular show."

Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Corvallis, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. A court appearance was set for Monday. Few details were available about him late Friday.

Authorities allowed the plot to proceed in order to build up enough evidence to charge the suspect with attempt.

Officials didn't say if the suspect had any ties to other Americans recently accused of trying to carry out attacks on U.S. soil, including alleged efforts in May by a Pakistan-born man to set off a car bomb near Times Square or another Pakistan-born Virginia resident accused last month in a bomb plot to kill commuters.

The two used coded language in which the FBI believes Mohamud discussed traveling to Pakistan to prepare for "violent jihad," the documents said.

In June an FBI agent contacted Mohamud "under the guise of being affiliated with" the suspected terrorist. But the documents did not say how federal officials first became aware of Mohamud.

An undercover agent met with him a month later in Portland, where they "discussed violent jihad," according to the court documents.

As a trial run, Mohamud and agents detonated a bomb in Lincoln City, Ore., earlier this month.

"This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people -- even here in Oregon -- who are determined to kill Americans," Holton said.

Friday, an agent and Mohamud drove to downtown Portland in a white van that carried six 55-gallon drums with detonation cords and plastic caps, but all of them were inert, the complaint states.

They left the van near the downtown ceremony site and went to a train station where Mohamud was given a cell phone that he thought would blow up the vehicle, according to the complaint. There was no detonation when he dialed, and when he tried again federal agents and police made their move.

Omar Jamal, first secretary to the Somali mission to the United Nations, condemned the plot and urged Somalis to cooperate with police and the FBI.

"Talk to them and tell them what you know so we can all be safe," Jamal said.

Somalia Foreign Minister Mohamed Abullahi Omaar said his government is "ready and willing" to offer the U.S. any assistance it may need to prevent similar attempts. He said the attempt in Portland was a tragedy for Mohamud's family and the "people he tried to harm."

"Mohamud's attempt is neither representative nor an example of Somalis. Somalis are peace loving people," said Omaar, whose government is holed up in a few blocks of the capital, Mogadishu, while much of the country's southern and central regions are ruled by Islamist insurgents.

Tens of thousands of Somalis have resettled in the United States since their country plunged into lawlessness in 1991, and the U.S. has boosted aid to the country.

In August, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment naming 14 people accused of being a deadly pipeline routing money and fighters from the U.S. to al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda affiliated group in Mohamud's native Somalia,

At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder said the indictments reflect a disturbing trend of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. residents to become terrorists.

Officials have been working with Muslim community leaders across the United States, particularly in Somali diasporas in Minnesota, trying to combat the radicalization.

The alleged plot in Portland follows a string of terrorist attack planning by U.S. citizens or residents.

In the Times Square plot, Faisal Shahzad allegedly tried to set off a car bomb at a bustling street corner. U.S. authorities had no intelligence about Shahzad's plot until the smoking car turned up in Manhattan.

Late last month, Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Virginia was arrested and accused of casing Washington-area subway stations in what he thought was an al-Qaida plot to bomb and kill commuters. Similar to the Portland sting, the bombing plot was a ruse conducted over the past six months by federal officials.

A year ago in another federal sting, 19-year-old Jordanian Hosam Smadi was arrested on charges he intended to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper. Federal officials said he placed what he believed was a car bomb outside the building but was instead a decoy device given him by an undercover FBI agent.

"I think we've been extremely lucky so far in the United States that many of the incidents have been amateur," said Bruce Hoffman, terrorism expert at Georgetown University. "But even if their skill level is not enough that they can pull off a successful attack, what is clear that the intention or motivation to cause mass homicide or destruction is certainly genuine."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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