Tips and Cooperation by Muslim Communities and Familes

Tips and cooperation by Muslim communities and families; total 41 (21%).

For the purposes of this study, tips were divided into the following categories: Tips provided by members of the Muslim community to law enforcement and tips or cooperation provided by family members of the accused to law enforcement. We found a total of 41 cases where Muslims tipped off and/or cooperated with law enforcement, a total of 21% of the cases.

Muslim Community tips – 33 cases

• North Carolina Jihad plot (Daniel Boyd, Dylan Boyd, Zakaria Boyd, Anes Subasic, Hysen Sherifi, Mohammed Omar Aly Hassan, Ziyad Yaghi) – Daniel Boyd spoke openly about his plans to wage jihad abroad, prompting complaints within the Islamic Center of Raleigh where Boyd worshipped and an eventual tip from the Islamic Center to the FBI.[1]
• Ohio plotters (Marwan El-Hindi, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Wassim Mazloum) According to an FBI agent, members of Toledo, Ohio’s Muslim community warned the FBI about the “violent and radical views” articulated by the suspects, leading to an investigation and eventual arrests.[2]
• Virginia Jihad Network (Ali al-Timimi, Al Asad Chandia, Masaud Khan, Seifullah Chapman, Randall Royer, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, Yong Ki Kwon, Hammad Abdur-Raheem, Donald Thomas Surrat, Khwaja Mahmood Hasan)  Authorities began investigating after receiving two tips from the local Muslim community saying that Ali al-Timimi was running “an Islamic group known as Dar al-Arqam” that was conducting “military-style training.”[3]
• Lackawanna Six (Sahim Alwan, Yahya Goba, Shafal Mosed, Yasein Taher, Faysal Galab, Mukhtar al-Bakri; related indictments/cases: Kemal Derwish, Jaber Elbaneh) The initial clue that the Lackawanna Six had received militant training abroad came from a letter sent by a member of the Yemeni community in Lackawanna.[4] These men were linked to two others militants, Kemal Derwish, and Jaber Elbaneh.
• Imran Mandhai and Shueyb Mossa Jokhan – A man named Saif Allah who attended the same mosque as Imran Mandhai reported his radical statements about the United States to the FBI in early 2001.[5] In 2002, Mandhai and Jokhan were subjected to a sting operation resulting in eventual indictments against them.
• Antonio Martinez – Once his plot to bomb the Maryland army recruitment center was underway, Martinez approached three different people about taking part in the bombing, one of whom reported him to the FBI.[6] Martinez had originally came to the attention of authorities after a Muslim confidential informant working for the FBI reported seeing extremist postings on Martinez’s Facebook page, and asked permission to contact him.
• Khalid Abdul-Latif and Walli Mujahidh – Abdel-Latif and Mujahidh allegedly attempted to recruit a third plotter in their planned assault on a military processing station in Seattle, who informed the FBI of the plot.[7] Mujahidh allegedly told the tipster-turned-informant that the headlines after their attack would read, “Three Muslim Males Walk Into MEPS Building, Seattle, Washington, And Gun Down Everybody.”[8]

Family tips and cooperation – 8 cases

• Mohamed Osman Mohamud – Mohamud’s father first informed the FBI about the radicalization of his son, beginning the investigation that would eventually lead to the FBI sting operation in which Mohamud attempted to set off an inert bomb in Portland, Oregon in November 2010.[9]
• Carlos Almonte and Mohamed Mahmood Alessa – While the initial tip sent in to the FBI about Almonte and Alessa’s radicalization came from an anonymous source, the men’s families worked closely with the FBI from 2006 until their arrest in 2010, practically the entire duration of the investigation.[10]
• D.C. 5 (Umar Chaudhry, Ramy Zamzam, Ahmad A. Minni, Waqar Khan, Aman Hassan Yemer) – After two of the families of the young men found videotapes believed to be “martyrdom” tapes, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) advised the families to report their sons missing, which led to their investigation, arrest, and eventual trial in Pakistan.[11]