Three Lansing Men Arrested At GRR; Charged With Helping ISIS

The United States Attorney's Office for West Michigan announced today three men, living in Lansing, were arrested without incident Monday afternoon at Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids. They are charged with "conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). The conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison," according to Breane Warner, spokeperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) arrested MUSE ABDIKADIR MUSE (MUSE MUSE) at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after he checked in for a flight to the first of a series of destinations on his way to Mogadishu, Somalia. Shortly thereafter, law enforcement arrested alleged co-conspirators MOHAMUD ABDIKADIR MUSE (MOHAMUD MUSE), and MOHAMED SALAT HAJI (HAJI). MUSE MUSE and MOHAMUD MUSE are brothers and HAJI is a cousin. All three were born in Kenya. HAJI is a naturalized U.S. citizen and the brothers are derivative U.S. citizens, having received U.S. citizenship as minors through the naturalization of their parents. - U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the complaint affidavit, it asserts "all three defendants pledged allegiance to ISIS through videos they recorded themselves. Muse, Muse and Haji allegedly discussed with each other their desire to join ISIS, kill non-believers and even to potentially use a car for a martyrdom operation to run down non-believers here in the United States if they could not travel overseas to fight for ISIS.

"The defendants were scheduled to make their initial appearance in court today to hear the charges against them. They will remain in custody pending formal arraignment and a hearing on the government’s request that their detention continue until trial."