TWEETS HELPED LEAD TO ARREST
Convenience store manager showed support for al-Qaida, also may have been planning to kill returning U.S. soldiers
Gary Craig http://rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/
Staff writer
Through the 140 characters allowed on Twitter, Mufid Elfgeeh spelled out again and again his ideological hatred toward the United States, federal authorities allege.
Mufid Elfgeeh is taken from his appearance in federal court on Monday after authorities allege he was encouraging donations to jihadists through his Twitter account, which also was used to voice displeasure about American foreign policy. Elfgeeh, who had sought out information on how to purchase various weapons, was arrested in the parking lot of the Walmart on Hudson Avenue on Saturday. JAMIE GERMANO/@JGERMANO1/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
In one tweet, he announced his allegiance with al-Qaida, writing, “al-Qaida said it loud and clear; we are fighting the American invasion and their hegemony over the earth and the people,” authorities say.
Other tweets encouraged the donation of money for jihadists, and, while advocating martyrdom, Elfgeeh claimed al-Qaida and jihadists are the world’s true Muslims.
On Saturday afternoon, FBI agents and members of the agency’s Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Elfgeeh in the parking lot of the Walmart at 1490 Hudson Ave. They allege that he’d planned to buy firearms and he wanted to use them to kill returning American troops as well as Shi’ite Muslims living in the region.
Elfgeeh is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Yemen who managed a convenience store on North Clinton Avenue.
At the Walmart, Elfgeeh, 30, met with an FBI informant who provided him firearms and silencers, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Albert Zenner.
A swarm of law enforcement officials arrested Elfgeeh around 3 p.m. as shoppers wandered in and out of the store. The weapons the informant gave Elfgeeh immediately before the arrest had been rendered inoperable, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Harvey, a prosecutor in the case.
“At no time was there a risk to the public this weekend,” said FBI Special Agent Brian Boetig, who heads the agency’s western New York region, about the large show of force for the arrest.
Elfgeeh is charged with two counts of illegally receiving and possessing unregistered firearm silencers, but the investigation is continuing, U.S. Attorney William Hochul Jr. said at a news conference Monday.
Mufid Elfgeen of Rochester runs this convenience store, left, on North Clinton Avenue. At right, U.S. Assistant District Attorney Brett Harvey, left, listens as U.S. District Attor ney William Hochul discusses the case on Monday. PHOTO, LEFT, CARY CRAIG; RIGHT, TINA MACINTYRE-YEE/@TYEE23
“Al-Qaida said it loud and clear ; we are fighting the American invasion and their hegemony over the ear th and the people”
MUFID ELFGEEH, in a tweet.
At a court appearance Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman, Elfgeeh was appointed lawyers from the Federal Public Defender’s Office. A bail hearing is scheduled for June 16.
Federal prosecutors have requested that Elfgeeh stay jailed pending trial.
Using confidential informants, the FBI has been investigating Elfgeeh since early 2013, according to the affidavit from Zenner.
In early 2013, an individual who has occasionally worked as an informant for the FBI “first reported information about Elfgeeh.”
The informant, records show, has helped the FBI since around 2000. He has been paid about $21,700 by the agency, and the FBI assisted him in receiving visas for family members.
A second informant, who also has been paid by the FBI, began a series of conversations with Elfgeeh in late 2013. Those broad talks about terrorism in the Middle East and American politics morphed into Elfgeeh’s stated intent to do harm to Americans, authorities allege.
In the aftermath of the December terrorist attack on a mall in Kenya, Elfgeeh told the second informant that, “I’m thinking about just go buy a big automatic gun from off the street … and just put on a vest or whatever and just go around and start shooting,” the affidavit states. Elfgeeh indicated he already had a bulletproof vest. Elfgeeh discussed buying weapons from that informant, saying “I don’t have … no plan whatsoever,” the affidavit alleges. He said he wanted weapons “for personal use.” He also allegedly said he would “try to do as much as we could before we get, get captured,” and that he wanted to do video messages after the attacks.
In March, Elfgeeh apparently narrowed his plans to killing returning soldiers, authorities allege. He noted how a French-Algerian man had killed three French military members.
Elfgeeh told the informant, who’d indicated he could buy him firearms, that he could figure out who returning military members were from online searches. Negotiations over possible weapons purchases continued into April and May. The conversations were recorded. Elfgeeh also inquired about prices for hand grenades, “the type that one would throw at someone as you are driving a car.” On Saturday, the FBI gave the informant a “Walther PPK .32-caliber handgun with a functional silencer affixed to the barrel, a Glock 26, 9-millimeter handgun with a functional silencer affixed to the barrel, two boxes of .32-caliber ammunition, and two boxes of 9-millimeter ammunition,” the affidavit states. The informant gave Elfgeeh the box carrying the weapons in the Walmart lot, moments before the arrest. After the arrest, police and FBI agents executed a search warrant at Elfgeeh’s home and a convenience store, MoJoe’s, that he runs at 1193 N. Clinton Ave. The store, decorated in candy stripe red and white, advertises pizza, chicken and groceries, and fronts the residence where Elfgeeh lived. Neighbors said agents searched the store and house for two hours or more Saturday evening.
GCRAIG Twitter.com/gcraig1
Jun 2, 2014
AP, anxious as ever to deflect the focus from Islamic jihad, in its lead paragraph here explains that Elfgeeh was plotting to kill troops “as vengeance for American actions overseas.” So why did he want to kill Shi’ites as well? As vengeance for Iran being a bitter enemy of his bitter enemy, the U.S.? Obviously Elfgeeh is a Sunni Islamic jihadist who wants to kill members of groups that he considers to be enemies of Islam. But AP will never tell you that.
An update on this story. “Yemeni Accused in Rochester of Plotting to Kill Troops,” Associated Press, June 2, 2014 (thanks to Josh):
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) – A 30-year-old upstate New York business owner from Yemen who’s accused of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military and others as vengeance for American actions overseas has been arrested on weapons charges.
A federal criminal complaint says Mufid Elfgeeh of Rochester was arrested Saturday afternoon. He’s charged with two counts of receiving and possessing an unregistered firearm silencer. He was to appear Monday before a federal magistrate.
Federal authorities say in court papers that Elfgeeh, a naturalized U.S. citizen, bought two handguns and the silencers as part of a plan to kill members of the U.S. armed forces returning from war as well as Shiite Muslims in western New York.
The FBI says it had been investigating Elfgeeh since early last year.
a12iggymom's Blog 
Reblogged this on U.S. Constitutional Free Press.
LikeLike