Four men accused of providing financial support to global terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki were indicted Thursday on multiple terrorism-related charges unsealed in U.S. District Court in Toledo.
“Tens of thousands of dollars can do a tremendous amount of damage in the wrong hands,” Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said by telephone Thursday. “Money really is the lifeblood of these terrorist organizations, and the people who give cash knowing that its going to be used to support terrorism have a real responsibility for what’s going to happen with that money.”
Two of the suspects were arrested Thursday morning — one in Westerville, Ohio, and the other in Texas.
Former Toledo resident Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, 36, was arrested in Texas, where he is believed to be residing, on charges of conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, providing material support and resources to terrorists, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Sultane Room Salim, 40, of Columbus was arrested in Westerville and transported to Toledo where he was arraigned in U.S. District Court.
Mr. Salim pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, providing material support and resources to terrorists, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Magistrate Judge James Knepp ordered him held in the Lucas County jail and scheduled a pretrial hearing before District Judge Jack Zouhary Dec. 22.
The other two suspects — Mr. Mohammad's brother, Yahya Farooq Mohammad, 37, and Mr. Salim's brother, Asif Ahmed Salim, 35, both residents of the United Arab Emirates — are not in custody.
The 72-page indictment outlines an alleged conspiracy that began in 2005 and continued through January, 2012, in which the four men schemed to provide money, equipment, and other assistance to Al-Awlaki, a key leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed in Yemen in a U.S. drone strike Sept. 30, 2011.
Their support was allegedly intended to further the cause of violent jihad against the United States and U.S. military.
The largest dollar amount listed in the indictment was $22,000, which Yahya Farooq Mohammad and two unindicted co-conspirators delivered to an associate of Al-Awlaki in Yemen in July, 2009.
In a July 25, 2009, email sent after the trip, Ibrahim Mohammad asked his brother, “so ...?” to which Yahya Farooq Mohammad replied, “couldn't meet him, but delivered the goods to a relative.”
Mr. Dettelbach said FBI agents and federal prosecutors pursued their investigation into the alleged conspiracy for several years.
The message, he said, is, “If you’re going to support terrorists like this, then we’re going to persist at this for as long as it takes.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin said in a news release that the four defendants provided material support to Al-Awlaki “in response to his calls for violent jihad.”
“The National Security Division's highest priority is counterterrorism and we will continue to pursue justice against those who seek to provide material support to terrorists,” he said.
All four of the men have some ties to Ohio, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.
Yahya Farooq Mohammad was an Indian citizen who studied engineering at Ohio State University from 2002 to 2004. He married a U.S. citizen in 2008, but has been a resident of the United Arab Emirates since 2004.
His brother, also an Indian citizen, studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 to 2005. Ibrahim Mohammad moved to Toledo around 2006, married a U.S. citizen, and became a permanent resident of the United States around 2007, moving at some point to Texas.
Asif Salim, a U.S. citizen, was a student at OSU from 2000 to 2005. He moved to Overland Park, Kansas in 2007.
His brother, who also is a U.S. citizen, lived in the Chicago area from 2006 to 2013 and then moved to Columbus. In court Thursday, when Judge Knepp asked Sultane Salim about his education, he responded that he had a graduate degree.
Matthew Shepherd, an assistant U.S. attorney, told the court that two of the charges against Mr. Salim carry maximum possible sentences of 15 years in prison, while the third carries a possible 20-year sentence.
He asked the court to keep Mr. Salim behind bars.
“This is a case that has a statutory presumption for detention because of the nature of the charges,” he said, explaining that the first two counts were both crimes defined as “a federal crime of terrorism.”
Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.
First Published November 6, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
