Gufran Ahmed Kauser Mohammed (31), said to be an Indian-origin man and naturalised U.S. citizen who relocated to Saudi Arabia in 2011, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to militant outfits al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda in Iraq/al Nusrah Front and al-Shabaab of Somalia.
According to the indictment, Mohammed along with an accomplice Mohamed Hussein Said (25), was said to have conspired to provide money and recruits to these terror groups via “a series of wire transfers.” Ultimately they were trapped in a U.S. sting operation, authorities suggested, after the funds were routed to an individual whom Said believed was a fundraiser, recruiter, and supplier for al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda in Iraq/al Nusrah Front.
Both men were said to have extended support to these organisations by recruiting and moving experienced al-Shabaab fighters to Syria.
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Some of the evidentiary conversation in the case appeared to have occurred online, for example in July 2012, when Mohammed told an undercover FBI agent in an Internet chat room that he wanted one of his wire transfers “to fund an al-Qaeda terrorist attack on U.S. citizens or the United Nations,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Del Toro was quoted saying at a bail hearing. Similarly, in an online chat in February, Said reportedly said that he had one recruit “who would be willing to conduct a martyrdom operation within the U.S. and be like one of the 19,” thought to be a reference to the 19 hijackers in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Reports also suggested that Mohammed tried to transfer more than $25,000 to al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
There appeared to be some lack of clarity in media reports on the case, however, with two news agencies suggesting that the two men had been arrested “earlier this month in Saudi Arabia,” but an FBI press release indicating that they been charged on August 8, 2013.