Wednesday May 18, 2016
By Jennie Lissarrague
12:30 p.m. Hennepin County Detective Goes Over Phone Records
The testimony of Patrick Clark resumed after a 30-minute break in the trial of three Somali-Minnesotan men accused of trying to travel to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State group.
Clark is a detective with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and is also assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Clark said he was the main detective in charge of collecting phone records connected to the case through the subpoena process. He also said he was the case agent for defendant Mohamed Farah, who has been charged along with 21-year-old Guled Omar and 22-year-old Abdirahman Daud with conspiracy to murder outside the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization.In his testimony, Clark went over a “Phone Attribution Chart,” which listed each defendant and the phone numbers connected to them, along with the documentation they have to prove the connection, such as job applications and resumes.
Clark then went over phone records for each defendant, which he said can be analyzed to determine how many calls a person is making to another person, the time of day of the call and what days the calls are happening.
“Sometimes data focuses on where a call is coming from,” Clark said. “We were more concerned with who is calling who.”
Clark said they were specifically looking for spikes in contact and when that contact dropped off. Clark said their records focused on May and November 2014, which are the months when the alleged travel attempts happened.
Hamza Ahmed’s phone records showed one such spike, according to the evidence presented in court. A bar graph showed a spike in Ahmed’s contact with Zacharia Abdurahman, Farah and Hanad Musse on Nov. 5-6, 2014, which is the time period when all four of them are accused of taking buses to New York City to try to fly out of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
All but Farah have pleaded guilty in the case.
Ahmed was pulled off his plane at JFK airport, and Clark said he believes Ahmed got rid of his phone after that because only incoming contacts were recorded from that point on.
After going through the phone records of Omar, Daud and Farah, Clark then shifted gears to talk about a January 2015 interview with Farah, in which they discussed his travel to New York City in November 2014.
Clark said investigators asked Farah what his travel plans were in November, and Farah responded that he was planning to vacation in Bulgaria, which included sightseeing, going to the beaches, seeing the buildings and visiting historical places.
When asked what money he was going to be using in Bulgaria, Farah said he was carrying $1,000 in cash that he had saved up from his job.
Clark said Farah claimed he was traveling alone, but he acknowledged he saw Ahmed on the bus and later admitted he knew Abdurahman and Musse. He said it was a “coincidence” that they all ended up in New York City at the same time, according to Clark.
When told it was a crime to lie to law enforcement, Farah responded, “Yeah, obviously,” Clark said.
Clark said Farah initially denied ever having used Twitter, but when he was confronted with a specific Twitter handle, he admitted it was his.
We’re taking an hour lunch break, and Clark’s testimony will resume at 1:30 p.m.
11 a.m. Minneapolis FBI Agent Testifies about Bank Records
The eighth day of a Minnesota terrorism-related trial started with the prosecution questioning Scott Zimmerman, who is a special agent with the Minneapolis FBI.
Zimmerman is the 14th witness out of the 26 the prosecution plans to call. His testimony focused on banking records of the suspects, including when they opened accounts and specific deposits to and withdrawals from each account.
Twenty-one-year-old Guled Omar, 22-year-old Mohamed Farah and 22-year-old Abdirahman Daud are charged with conspiracy to murder outside the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
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The prosecution then called Patrick Clark to the stand, who is a detective with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and is also assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Clark said he was the main detective in charge of collecting phone records connected to the case through the subpoena process.
His testimony was just starting when court took a half-hour break. His testimony will resume at 11 a.m.
9 a.m. Minneapolis FBI Agent Testifies in Minnesota Terror Trial
Testimony resumed at 9 a.m. Wednesday for the eighth day of the trial of three men accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
Twenty-one-year-old Guled Omar, 22-year-old Mohamed Farah and 22-year-old Abdirahman Daud are charged with conspiracy to commit murder outside the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
Court ended Tuesday afternoon as the prosecution was questioning Scott Zimmerman, who is a special agent with the Minneapolis FBI.
His testimony, which so far has focused on banking records, will resume Wednesday.
A key informant is also expected to testify, and secretly-recorded conversations with some of the three defendants are expected to be played.