Terror suspect to face charges in St. Paul
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A former Minneapolis man is finally being extradited from the Netherlands to face terrorism charges in Minnesota. The hearing, originally scheduled for Friday, has been postponed until Monday afternoon.
Mahamud Said Omar was indicted back in 2009 on charges of outfitting several younger Twin Cities men for their trips to Somalia, where they trained with the terrorist group al-Shabab. The government alleges the 45-year-old former mosque janitor took the men to the airport, helped pay for the trips, and even bought them AK-47 assault rifles.
But his family said Omar, who is a divorced father of three, was mentally ill and down on his luck. One of his brothers says he wasn't capable of plotting the departures.
It's taken two years to extradite Omar to the U.S. He's scheduled to make his first appearance before federal Magistrate Jeanne Graham in St. Paul on Monday at 2 p.m.
Omar's case could shed new light on the radicalization of about two dozen Minnesotans who allegedly joined ranks with al-Shabab to fight the Ethiopian army that occupied their homeland.
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