March 8 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. indicted Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed for aiding Al Shabaab, a Somali terrorist group with connections to al-Qaeda.

Ahmed gave Al Shabaab money and received training, including on bomb-making, the U.S. said in the indictment by the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan. Ahmed was arrested in Nigeria on March 6 and flown to the U.S. the same day, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher LaVigne told U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman at a hearing today in New York.

In April 2009, Ahmed traveled to Al Shabaab paramilitary camps in Kismayo and Barawa, Somalia, for jihad training, according to the indictment. He gave the group, which the U.S. designated a foreign terrorist organization in February 2008, about 3,000 euros ($4,088) and also purchased a Kalashnikov rifle and two grenades, the U.S. said in the indictment.

“In or about November 2009, while in Nigeria, Ahmed possessed documents reflecting the bomb-making instructions,” according to the indictment.

Ahmed appeared at the court hearing today. He remains in custody. His lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, declined to comment on his case after the hearing. She said he’ll enter a not-guilty plea at a hearing tomorrow. She said Ahmed is 35 years old.

The government believes Ahmed is a citizen of Eritrea and a resident of Sweden, prosecutor LaVigne said at the hearing.

Al Shabaab is “believed to have provided protection and safe haven for al-Qaeda operatives wanted for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and a 2002 hotel bombing in Kenya,” according to the indictment.

Ahmed is charged with supporting a terrorist organization, receiving military training from a terrorist organization and two counts of conspiracy.

The case is U.S. v. Ahmed, 10-cr-131, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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Bloomberg

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