Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Terrorists

An Ohio man has pleaded guilty in court today to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

A Somali national living in Columbus Ohio, Nuradin M. Abdi, 35 pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday. He was named in a four-count indictment which took affect on June 10, 2004. Today, he agree to serve a 10-year prison sentence to the terms of his plea agreement. He plead guilty to Count One of the indictment, charging him with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Apparently, Abdi allegedly applied for a travel document on April 17, 1999, claiming that he wanted to visit Germany and Saudi Arabia to visit a relative. This was not his true intentions though. Abdi was planning to travel to Agaden, Ethiopia. At this location, he would have military style training in preparation for violent jihad. Abdi also sought training in many areas which included guns, guerrilla warfare, radio usage, and bombs.

"Today's case should serve notice to those who would take advantage of our country's freedoms to support and conspire with international terrorists who are our sworn enemies," said Assistant Attorney General Wainstein.

"This plea is the product of a persistent global investigation by a gents and officers who used every legal tool available to document the actions of one who conspired to aid terrorists," U.S. Attorney Lockhart said.

Nuradin M. Abdi was definitely a threat here in U.S. soil as he was to the security of the United States. He conspired to provide support to terrorists.

Some background information on Abdi, which are facts agreed upon by the government, indicate that Abdi entered the United States in 1995 using a false passport. He also illegally entered the United States in 1997. While in the United States, Abdi became friends with people whom had the same intentions as himself, his co-conspirators, Paul and Iyman Faris of Ohio.

Both of these men whom Abdi connected with are already facing charges for their terrorist connections, Christopher Paul also faces charges of providing material support, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. As for Iyman Faris, he faces the same charges and also conspiracy to provide material support to Al Qaeda. He, however, is serving a 20-year prison term.

Abdi plans before his arrest included plans to travel to training camps to prepare himself for violent jihad in 1999, which he planned to go to Chechnya to take up a camp. In 2000, he traveled to Kanya, learned that a Ethiopia camp he wanted to go to no longer existed. From there, he went to Somalia, where he was associated with Islamic extremists. Abdi then returned to the U.S. in March of 2000.

Along Abdi's plots in the United States included a plot to bomb a shopping mall as well as a potential plot to launch missile attacks against various landmarks in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE

U.S. Department of Justice

http://www.USDOJ.gov

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