Report: Somali terror suspect had US residency


AMSTERDAM — A Somali man suspected of recruiting youth in Minneapolis for Islamic terrorism in Somalia has a U.S. green card, Dutch media reported Friday.

Mohamud Said Omar, 43, was arrested last weekend at the request of U.S. authorities in an asylum seeker’s center in Dronten, Netherlands, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of Amsterdam.

According to Dutch prosecutors, U.S. authorities suspect Omar of bankrolling the purchase of weapons for Islamic extremists and helping other Somalis travel to Somalia in 2007 and 2008. They have requested his extradition.

FBI officials in Minneapolis have confirmed that the arrest of the suspect detained in the Netherlands is related to an investigation into the departure of more than a dozen young men to Somalia, including one who carried out a suicide attack there in October 2008.

Omar’s Dutch attorney, Audrey Kessels, told the daily newspaper De Volkskrant that given Omar’s U.S. green card, he was ineligible for asylum in the Netherlands and his request was quickly rejected.

However, she had appealed the decision on the basis of illness. Omar had told her he couldn’t find work in America and “didn’t have any peace in his head.â€