A Somali-born man who trained at an Al Qaeda camp and attended lectures by Usama bin Laden has been sent from the United States to Canada, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mohammed Warsame, 37, pleaded guilty in May 2009 to providing material support to Al Qaeda, and he was sentenced to 92 months in prison with credit for time already served. On Friday, after several years in prison, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement accompanied him to Canada in accordance with a federal judge's recent order of removal, according to an ICE press release.
"There is no place in this country for anyone who advocates violence by associating, supporting or conspiring with terrorists,” ICE Director John Morton said in a statement. "ICE will use every tool at our disposal to protect the American people and remove those who pose a threat to our national security."
Warsame, a naturalized Canadian citizen, was arrested in December 2003, and a month later a grand jury in Minneapolis charged him with "conspiracy to provide material support to Al Qaeda." He ultimately pleaded guilty to a charge filed in a superseding indictment in June 2005.
In March 2000, Warsame traveled to Afghanistan, where he attended an Al Qaeda training camp outside Kabul and received training in physical fitness, the use of weapons and martial arts, according to the Justice Department. That summer he traveled to the al Faruq training camp, where he received more training and met with Usama Bin Laden, the Justice Department said.
Over the next year, he traveled to Pakistan and Canada on Al Qaeda's dime, and he sent money to Al Qaeda, according to ICE and the Justice Department.
Ultimately Warsame relocated to Minneapolis, where he attended the Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Between 2002 and 2003, he provided information to several Al Qaeda associates, according to the Justice Department.
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