October 4, 2012 | Posted by admin
The FBI agent who scoured the world tracking down travel records of 18 men who left the Twin Cities to fight for al-Shabaab said she didn’t necessarily look into who paid for the tickets.
That was the job of other FBI agents, Special Agent Karie Gibson told the jury in the trial of Mahamud Said Omar.
Gibson’s testimony prompted incredulity from defense attorney Paul Dworak on cross-examination. He noted that some of the airline tickets — some costing close to $2,000 — had been paid for with credit cards.
The tickets were for men whom Omar allegedly accompanied to a travel agency to buy tickets to Somalia. Dworak pointed out one such travel record showing some tickets had been paid for with an American Express credit card.
“Did you investigate that card?” Dworak asked.
“I don’t have any information on that credit card,” Gibson replied. She said she didn’t know if the FBI tracked down the owners, but if the agency did so, it would’ve been the responsibility of other agents.
Omar, 46, of Minneapolis, is accused of conspiracy and aiding al-Shabaab, a militant Islamic group seeking to overthrow the Somali government. The U.S. State Department designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2008, making it illegal to aid the group.
Gibson, who has a Ph.D. in psychology and has been an FBI agent for six years, was called to testify by federal prosecutors because she compiled the voluminous file of records documenting the travel of 18
men to Somalia.
Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney LeeAnn Bell, Gibson detailed dossiers she compiled on each of the 18, including their drivers’ license records, passport applications and detailed travel information culled from government, airline and travel agency records.
As she testified, each record she mentioned was flashed on TV monitors in front of the 10 women and five men who make up the jury and alternates. There were pages and pages of records.
Prosecutors have not said how much Omar is alleged to have contributed to the “travelers,” as the FBI calls the men who left. In court documents the government says he provided “several hundred dollars” as traveling money to some of the men, and drove a couple of them to the airport.
He also traveled to Somalia himself and returned. While there, the government claims he bought AK-47 assault rifles for two of the men and contributed money for upkeep of an al-Shabaab safe-house.
His lawyers contend the $800-a-month part-time janitor lacked the financial and mental capacity needed to run what one prosecutor called “a pipeline” of men and money for al-Shabaab.
Omar’s brothers have said he didn’t even have a bank account.
Dworak noted in his cross-examination of Gibson that five of the ticket purchases were made with American Express or Visa cards. For each one, he asked the FBI agent if she knew whose cards they were.
Each time, she said she had no information on the card.
He also asked her if she’d investigated who wrote the check used to buy airline tickets for four men that showed up in a travel agency record.
“I don’t have any information specifically on this,” the agent replied.
On Thursday afternoon, the government is expected to call two of the men that Omar is alleged to have helped with their travels to Somalia. They have been convicted in federal court and are awaiting sentencing; testifying against other defendants was part of the plea deals they made with prosecutors.
In all, 18 men with Twin Cities ties have been charged in the investigation the FBI dubbed “Operation Rhino.” Omar, who aspired to be a trucker and had graduated from a truck-driving school in California, is the only one to go to trial.
Of the others, seven have pleaded guilty, eight are fugitives and two are believed to be dead.
David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
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