Two charged in plot to aid Islamic State group are Lansing School District graduates
Eric LacyLANSING – Mohamed Mberwa first met Mohamed Salat Haji about two years ago at Beacon Soccer Field, near downtown Lansing.
Haji complemented Mberwa for his skills and even offered tips on how to improve his game.
“He just came to me and said, ‘Oh, you’re a good player!'" Mberwa recalled of their first meeting.
Mberwa, who is 18 and originally from Kenya, and Haji, 26, lived in the same Lansing neighborhood. And, at no point when they played soccer together, Mberwa said, did he consider Haji dangerous.
That changed this week.
Haji and two other Lansing men were charged Tuesday by federal prosecutors for conspiring to provide "material support" to the Islamic State group.
Mberwa said he remains stunned and confused as to why Haji may have wanted to kill others.
"It’s not just everyday people who wake up and think about things like that," Mberwa said.
The investigation
Haji, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 23, and Muse Abdikadir Muse, 20, allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS in self-recorded videos, according to a federal complaint filed in Grand Rapids.
ISIS is part of the larger Islamic militant organization that broke with the al-Qaida network and declared a caliphate, a traditional form of Islamic rule. It is largely made up of Sunni militants from Iraq and Syria but found success recruiting fighters from across the Muslim world.
Muse Muse and Haji allegedly took their loyalty for ISIS a step further when they "discussed with each other their desire to join ISIS, kill non-believers and even 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 U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in court documents.
Conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison upon conviction.
A detention hearing for the men is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday in Grand Rapids, court records show.
Their activities allegedly supporting ISIS had been tracked by undercover federal agents since 2016, according to court records.
Agents were able to develop a relationship with the three suspects by posing as a Somali male and African-American living in Chicago who had converted to Islam.
Agents exchanged messages with the three suspects, and the FBI monitored the suspects' Facebook accounts, according to a federal complaint.
In a message to Mohamud Muse, Haji said he loved how ISIS burned people, the complaint said.
Ties to Lansing
Attempts this week by the State Journal to reach relatives of the three Lansing men were unsuccessful.
None of the men appear to have a history of criminal convictions in Ingham County, based on online records searches.
Muse Muse and Mohamud Muse are brothers, officials said. Haji is a cousin and brother-in-law of the Muse brothers, they said. All three were born in Kenya.
Haji is a naturalized U.S. citizen, while the two brothers received U.S. citizenship as minors through the naturalization of their parents, officials said.
Two of the three men are graduates of the Lansing School District.
Bob Kolt, a district spokesman, confirmed in an email that records indicate Haji entered Otto Middle School in 2005 and graduated from Sexton High School in 2011.
Muse Muse entered Eastern High School on Sept. 6, 2016 and graduated a year later, Kolt said.
There are no records, Kolt said, that indicate Mohamud Muse, the 23-year-old brother of Muse Muse, 20, ever attended a school in the district.
Haji and Mohamud Muse were arrested Monday at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids shortly after Muse Muse checked in for a flight there and was also arrested.
Haji, Muse Muse and Mohamud Muse were arrested about a week after an undercover federal agent met the men at a Lansing-area Walmart, the complaint said.
They discussed items for a trip to join ISIS in Somalia, the complaint said. Two of the defendants told the agent "they would conduct an attack or martyrdom operation" if they failed to join ISIS, it said.
After Monday's arrests in Grand Rapids, federal agents searched a Lansing residence shared by Mohamud Muse and Muse Muse.
"Wow! How? Why"
The federal complaint said Haji and Mohamud Muse helped Muse Muse buy airline tickets to Mogadishu earlier this month.
Haji and Mohamud Muse drove Muse Muse to the Grand Rapids airport, according to the complaint, knowing that Muse Muse planned to join ISIS.
Anthony Zarwea, 24, of Lansing, considers Haji a lifelong friend. They've played soccer in the Lansing area for several years.
It's hard for Zarwea to think of Haji as someone who may promote violence.
"If people ask me about him," Zarwea said, "I’m going to tell them what I know.
"I’ve never expected him to be that type of person.”
A Facebook page Zarwea confirmed to the State Journal belongs to Haji shows posts dating back to at least 2014 that appear to reference Islam and passages in the Quran.
The most recent post is dated 8:44 a.m. Monday — nearly three hours before the federal complaint was filed in Grand Rapids. It appears to be from Haji and refers to loyalty within the Islamic faith.
"God tells us that this Book the Quran Do Not Have Doubt about it, that this Quran is a guidance for anyone who fear the Lord Allah," an excerpt from the post read.
Zarwea said he's never interpreted messages Haji posted on Facebook to be pro-ISIS or anti-American.
Zarwea said he's found most of Haji's messages to be focused on healthy relationships and loyalty among family members.
Said Zarwea of Haji's legal situation, "I'm thinking 'Wow! How? Why?'"
Search for a sense of belonging
Dr. Farha Abbasi, a Michigan State University psychologist, doesn't know the three Lansing men and said she isn't familiar with the case.
But Abbasi has spent more than a decade researching why men and women can be drawn to radicalized groups. She said social media platforms like Facebook can be problematic because groups like ISIS often use them as recruiting tools.
Young people across the globe can be drawn to groups of all kinds online if they feel disenfranchised, disturbed because of untreated trauma or just bored, Abbasi said.
"All the youth right now — Muslim or not — are looking to this utopia, the place where they can be this great person," Abbasi said. "These kids are looking for role models. They are looking to reclaim their identity, to know what’s right from wrong.”
Abbasi, who established the annual Muslim Mental Health Conference 11 years ago, has found through her research in the United Kingdom that men attracted to ISIS often have a history of exposure to violence. She often shares with colleagues that "hurt men hurt men."
Members of ISIS can lure young people into their world through deception, especially with misuse and misquotations of the holy Quran, Abbasi said.
"You don’t say 'What is wrong with you?'" Abbasi said of her approach to psychological treatment. "You say 'What wrongs happened to you?'”
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Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.