Today's Focus

2 suspects at large in alleged ring operated by radical Muslim group

Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- For two years, the FBI watched alleged members of a radical Muslim separatist group, using informants to tape the violent words of its leader.

Last November, agents launched an undercover sting operation through which leaders and members of "The Ummah," or brotherhood, allegedly fenced what they believed were stolen goods.

Early Wednesday afternoon, the trap was closed when agents simultaneously raided two Detroit homes and surrounded an FBI-controlled warehouse in Dearborn where Luqman Ameen Abdullah and four of his followers had gathered as part of the ongoing stolen goods sting.

Gunfire erupted when Abdullah, 53, who was imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque, refused to surrender and opened fire, officials said. He was killed in the gunfight. "This is obviously something that we don't relish," Andrew Arena, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit, said Thursday of the gun battle. "It's a tough part of our job."

Twelve people were charged in the case. Four are in U.S. federal custody, one is in Canadian custody, one is in a Michigan prison, three are free on bond, two are at large and Abdullah is dead.

Charges mostly relate to stolen goods and weapons offenses. But a detailed FBI affidavit attached to the complaint alleges Abdullah wanted to wage "jihad" and had threatened violence against FBI agents and others. Federal agents didn't say how defendants knew each other, but a federal complaint claimed nearly all were mosque members. Many members were ex-convicts who converted to Islam in prison, according to the complaint.

Arena and other officials would say little about the raid on the warehouse on Miller Road near Michigan Avenue, saying the shooting is under investigation by Dearborn police and an FBI shooting review team, as is routine in such cases. An FBI dog named Freddy, dispatched from headquarters for the case, died in the gunfight.

But a few new details emerged Thursday, including the fact that the warehouse was not part of a business linked to the defendants but a front operation controlled by the FBI.

Although the followers with Abdullah surrendered, it was only after they attempted unsuccessfully to escape, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Cindy Oberg, who is handling the case.

"When the FBI announced they were under arrest, they all fled," Oberg told U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer during a detention hearing.

"They attempted to go out a locked door and could not," she said. Before surrendering, they also "attempted to take refuge inside a truck."

Among those federal officials alleged were with Abdullah at the warehouse were Mohammad Abdul Salaam, 45, of Detroit, who on Thursday was denied bond while he awaits trial on conspiracy and stolen goods charges.

Also present was Abdul Saboor, also known as Dwayne Edward Davis, 37, of Detroit. Scheer on Friday ordered the martial arts instructor released on an electronic tether, over the objections of Oberg.

At about the same time agents surrounded the warehouse, they executed search warrants at Abdullah's home on Tireman in Detroit and Salaam's home on Genesee.

They seized three rifles, a shotgun, a handgun and a bulletproof vest at Abdullah's home, Arena said. Another shotgun and a handgun were seized at Salaam's, he said.

At a news conference Thursday, Arena leveled new charges against the group, which he said wanted to create a separate state within the United States that would be governed by Islamic Sharia law.

He said members of the group were involved in shootings of two Detroit police officers in 2006. FBI officials would not provide more details on the shootings, except to say that they were non-fatal and related to a single incident. John Roach, a spokesman for the Detroit police was not able to provide more details on any police shootings linked to the radical group.

Roach did say the Detroit police have stepped up security at the 10th precinct in west Detroit as a result of threats from the group that were passed on by the FBI in the wake of Wednesday's raids. Roach would not give details on the "heightened state of security."

Arena would not say whether there is a link between the mosque case and recent FBI digs at an abandoned lot on Tireman, not far from Abdullah's home.

Saboor's attorney, Robert Kinney, said outside court that the criminal complaint filed Wednesday is full of strong language but no terrorism is alleged in the charges.

Attempting to refute allegations that Saboor is a flight risk, Kinney told the judge that several of Saboor's family members, including his father and his wife, were present for the detention hearing.

Both Arena and Interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg urged the public not to confuse with mainstream Islam the allegations against the group, which they said blended elements of radical Islam with the political ideology of former Black Panther leader H. Rap Brown.

"Any Muslim who took a look at what these people believe in would not recognize this as the Muslim faith," Arena said.

Two of the defendants were still at large Thursday night after Canadian officials arrested Abdullah's son in Windsor, Ontario, early Thursday afternoon.

Mujahid Carswell, 30, also known as Mujahid Abdullah, was arrested without incident by the RCMP about 1 p.m., FBI Special Agent Sandra Berchtold said. Carswell, who had been described as armed and dangerous, was being temporarily held by Canadian officials on immigration violations, she said.

The two others still sought by the FBI -- Yassir Ali Khan, 30, and Mohammad Alsahi, also known as Mohammad Palestine, 30, also have ties to Canada. Both are Canadian citizens and Ontario residents, said Berchtold. They are charged with dealing in stolen goods. Arena said the FBI is working closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other Canadian police agencies in locating the fugitives.

Some of the money the group raised through criminal activities was to go to Brown's wife while Brown serves time for killing two Georgia police officers, Oberg said.