Somali suspect charged with making false statements regarding terror affiliation

United States Attorney John E. Murphy announced that in San Antonio, a federal grand jury indicted 24-year-old Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, a citizen of Somalia, on two counts of making false statements under penalty of perjury to federal authorities concerning his association with global terrorist organizations.

The indictment, returned on Monday and unsealed yesterday, alleges that on October 28, 2008, the defendant falsely omitted on an application for asylum that from a time prior to September 11, 2001, until January 2003, he was a member of, or was associated with, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami (AIAI). Both organizations have been designated by the Department of Treasury pursuant to Executive Order 13224 as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).

Al-Ittihad al-Islami, or the Islamic Union, is Somalia’s largest terrorist organization.  The group gained power in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Siad Barre dictatorship.  AIAI originally sought to form an Islamic state in Somalia and force the secession of the Ogaden region in Ethiopia, which it believed was wrongly seized during Somalia’s colonialist period. 

It has known ties with other Islamic terrorist organizations, notably al-Qaeda, and advocates the spread of Islamic fundamentalism as well as a vehement hatred of the West and secular government. 

The Dhakane indictment also alleges that the defendant provided additional false information concerning his entry into the United States. The defendant allegedly claimed to authorities that he and his wife traveled from Somalia to Mexico via Russia, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.

While in Mexico, they traveled by bus to the United States/Mexico border, where they were smuggled illegally into the United States. The indictment alleges that defendant failed to disclose to authorities that from June 2006 until March 2008, he resided in Brazil where he participated in, and later ran, a large-scale human smuggling enterprise knowing that such disclosure to authorities would prevent him from receiving asylum in the United States.

On March 28, 2008, Dhakane surrendered to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents near Brownsville, Texas. He was being held in an Immigration Detention Facility located in Pearsall, Texas, when he allegedly made the false statements to federal authorities.

Upon conviction, Dhakane faces up to 10 years in federal prison per count, according to the report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.