Government says couple tried to thwart terror investigation.
A Somali couple have been arrested in a federal terrorism investigation in San Antonio in which the pair are alleged to have lied to FBI agents and an immigration court.
Abdullah Omar Fidse, 22, already was in custody in Texas, and his wife, Deka Abdalla Sheikh, who's in her 20s, was taken into custody Thursday in Wisconsin.
A federal grand jury in San Antonio indicted the pair Wednesday on charges of conspiring to obstruct a proceeding before a federal department or agency, and conspiracy to make false statements to the executive branch during a terrorism investigation.
Neither is charged with acts of terrorism. The indictment states that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force tried to glean whether Fidse planned any harm to the United States.
During the investigation, an undercover source secretly audio-taped Fidse on June 3, 2009, claiming that “he bought an armed technical, that is a battle vehicle with weapons, for $100,000 that was destroyed in a battle and all aboard were killed,” the indictment states.
The document doesn't say where that happened but states Fidse claimed it wasn't his voice on the recording and that the FBI manipulated the tape to make it sound like his voice.
The indictment also alleges Fidse had told another individual that he was supportive of Osama bin Laden, though Fidse denied ever making that statement.
Among the allegations are that Fidse and Sheikh, in an effort to prevent Fidse from being deported, tried to stonewall a U.S. immigration court during asylum proceedings from collecting information about Fidse's true identity and marital status; about the manner, circumstances and timing of leaving Somalia; about his actual residency before coming to the United States; and about his prior associations.
The indictment also alleges Fidse coached Sheikh about what to say during the proceedings, right down to using hand signals to get on the same page during the asylum hearing.
It further alleges the pair agreed to make false statements to throw off agents as they looked into Fidse's “potential international and domestic terrorism ties.”
Fidse was first detained by Border Patrol agents in South Texas in June 2008 and later made a bid for asylum. He was being held at an immigration detention facility in Pearsall when he was indicted.
At a hearing late Friday, Fidse listened as U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Nowak and a Somali interpreter outlined the charges. He was ordered detained pending a bail hearing June 7.
It wasn't immediately clear where or how Sheikh entered the country, but she was arrested in Madison, Wis. A federal judge there ordered her transported to San Antonio to face the charges.
The obstruction conspiracy charge carries a maximum of five years in prison. The false statements in a terrorism investigation carries a maximum of eight.The couple's arrests follow the sentencing in April in San Antonio of another Somali, Ahmed Dhakane, 25, an alleged member of Somali-based groups the government considers terrorist organizations. Prosecutors also allege he arranged from Brazil to smuggle hundreds of people, including “violent jihadists” from East Africa, into this country via Texas.
Dhakane, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, denied those allegations, but pleaded guilty to two counts of lying to try to get asylum.
Authorities wouldn't say Friday if Fidse and Sheikh had been clients of Dhakane, or if the two cases were connected.
Source: www.mysanantonio.com
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