MIAMI, United States, May 29 – A Kenyan man pleaded guilty to supporting three different terrorist organizations Thursday, admitting to providing money and recruits in Syria and Somalia, the US Justice Department said.
The suspect, 27-year-old Mohamed Hussein Said, is accused of providing material support to “foreign terrorist organizations,” according to a statement from the Justice Department.
Said, from Nairobi, Kenya pleaded guilty to sending money and recruits to Al-Qaeda, its affiliate Al-Nusra Front, and Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab militants in Somalia.
He was indicted on 15 counts alongside Gufran Ahmed Mohammed, a naturalized US citizen and resident of Saudi Arabia.
The men were arrested together in Saudi Arabia last year and taken to Miami by US Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. READ: Leading Shabaab figure dies in Somalia.
“Mohammed sent a series of wire transfers to Said for the purpose of supporting Al-Shabaab,” the Justice Department said.
“Said also served as a contact and recruiter of foreign fighters from the United Kingdom and elsewhere travelling to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab.”
The pair also allegedly said they would support Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra Front fighters by sending recruits to fight in Syria, according to the Justice Department.
The charges against the two men stemmed from a Miami-based investigation involving an FBI employee who enlisted the pair in a financial scheme to back the terrorist organizations, the Miami Herald newspaper reported earlier this year.
Said’s sentencing is scheduled for August 14.
If convicted, he faces a maximum statutory sentence of 15 years in prison.