COLUMBUS, Ohio – A West Side man is accused of supporting Middle Eastern terrorists by providing resources and money laundering in what prosecutors say is the first indictment of its kind in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 23, was arrested Saturday at his home at 3762 Dunlane Court and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Wednesday.
In a motion filed on Tuesday, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien is seeking a $2.5 million bail, writing that Mohamud “is a public safety risk as well as has every reason to flee the country.”
The felony indictment, filed yesterday, follows a one-and-a-half-year investigation by the FBI, which established that Mohamud “provided material support and resources or electronic devices to persons engaged in terrorism in the Middle East and has traveled to that area of the world,” according to the motion.
Mohamud is the subject of an ongoing federal investigation “that will result in … additional terrorism charges under federal law where the penalties are more severe than in state court,” O’Brien wrote.
The indictment charges Mohamud with one count of soliciting or providing support for acts of terrorism and one count of money laundering in support of terrorism.
Mohamud is a U.S. citizen, O’Brien said.
O’Brien declined to provide details about Mohamud’s activities or whether he is suspected of planning terrorist attacks in central Ohio. He referred all additional questions about the case to the U.S. attorney’s office in Columbus and the FBI.