Lansing man charged with supporting ISIS told investigators he didn't mean it in his heart

GRAND RAPIDS – A 26-year-old Lansing man charged with conspiring to provide "material support" to an Islamic State group told investigators his heart wasn't in the actions that led to the charges, an FBI agent testified in federal court Friday. 

Mohamed Salat Haji said during a three-hour interview with investigators Monday that "in his heart, he didn't mean to do any of this," according to FBI Special Agent Paul Dunham. 

In a hearing before Magistrate Judge Phillip Green, Dunham detailed the more than two-year investigation, which he opened in December 2016, that led to Monday's arrest of Haji, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, and Muse Abdikadir Muse. 

Mohamud Muse, 23, and Muse Muse, 20, are brothers, officials said. Haji is their brother-in-law and cousin. All three were born in Kenya — Muse in a Somali refugee camp, Dunham said — and have lived in Lansing since at least late 2016. 

Bob Kolt, a Lansing School District spokesperson, confirmed that records show 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 ever attended a school in the district. 

All three men were arrested at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids by members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, federal records show. 

Muse had checked in for a flight to Mogadishu, Somalia that officials called "a series of destinations" in a news release, and he was arrested after making it through security. The other two were arrested near the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, Dunham said. 

The men appeared in federal court Friday afternoon in plain clothes — Muse in a pale blue button down shirt and black pants, Mohamud in a black shirt and camouflage pants and Haji in a white Puma brand shirt and khaki pants. 

They sat silently through a three-hour hearing, supported by family members who drove an hour to see them. 

The men's Monday arrest came after a lengthy FBI investigation using Facebook and undercover agents during which all three defendants pledged allegiance to ISIS in self-recorded videos, Dunham said while questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris O'Connor. 

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 has drawn jihadi fighters from across the Muslim world. 

Dunham repeated many of the Facebook exchanges referenced in a federal complaint, adding there was a theme throughout of hijrah — in the context of extremism, an Arabic word describing a foreign fighter's journey from their homeland to terrorist-held countries abroad — or death as a martyr. 

Multiple times, including just after Muse got his driver's license, the men discussed carrying out an attack using a vehicle to harm others, Dunham said. They specifically referenced an October 2017 attack in New York City that killed eight people. 

And in a four-hour interview with investigators Monday, Muse confirmed he planned to make that journey, Dunham said. 

"I wanted to join ISIS in Somalia so I wouldn't have to do an attack in the United States," Dunham read from a written statement that resulted from Muse's interview. 

Muse did not write the statement himself, but gave permission for a different special agent to write what he said and then signed the statement, Dunham indicated. 

Dunham was present for Haji's three-hour interview, which did not result in a signed written statement. He said investigators were not able to interview Mohamud on Monday.

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Throughout cross examination, the three men's lawyers reiterated a common line of reasoning — if not for the FBI's involvement, the Muse brothers and Haji never would have committed the crime. 

Mary Chartier, who is representing Haji, said the men never reached out to ISIS "until the FBI puts a recruiter at their door." 

That created the crime, she said in a brief statement nearly an hour after the hearing concluded. 

"We're going to fight this tooth and nail," Chartier said. 

Conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison upon conviction. 

Green adjourned the hearing before ruling whether the men will remain in custody. The hearing is scheduled to continue at 2:30 p.m. Monday.  

Contact reporter Megan Banta at (517) 377-1261 or mbanta@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1