Kenyan pleads guilty to terrorism support charges

A Kenyan man pleaded guilty on Thursday to terrorism support charges. The case involved an Internet chat room and other various online communications with undercover FBI operatives. 27-year-old Mohamed Said pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy supplying material support to foreign terrorist organizations. The groups in question were identifed as al-Shabaab in Africa and extremist organizations operating in Syria, including al-Qaida. Said faces a maximum of fifteen years in prison when he is sentenced on August 14 by U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro. A co-defendant (and fellow terrorist) Gufran Mohammed, is already serving the same fifteen year sentence after pleading guilty in 2014. According to court documents, the case deveolped gradually from FBI monitoring of Internet chat rooms visited regularly by Muslim extremists. Said and Mohammed were both arrested in August 2013 in Saudi Arabia. Mohammed is a naturalized U.S. citizen (born and raised in India) who holds a master’s degree in computer science from California State University. He had been living in Saudi Arabia (in Western Asia) since 2011. Said was living in Mombasa, Kenya, and had never been to the United States prior to his arrest.