A U.S. Magistrate judge in San Diego signed an order on Friday returning a 21-year-old man to Minnesota to face charges that he was planning to go to Syria to join an Islamic extremist group.
Magistrate Karen Crawford said in court Friday that she had signed a document that authorizes the U.S. marshal's office in San Diego to return Mohamed Farah from California to Minnesota.
Farah, who lives in Minneapolis, is one of six Twin Cities men arrested Sunday for allegedly planning to travel to the Middle East to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
Four were arrested in the Twin Cities and Farah and another man, Abdirahman Yasin Daud, also 21, were arrested in San Diego, allegedly on their way to cross into Mexico and board a flight to the Middle East.
Daud's attorney on Thursday asked Crawford for a continuance, so his case is scheduled to be heard next Thursday.
Kelly Thornton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, said that Crawford asked Farah if he was indeed Mohamed Farah.
"Yes," Farah replied. He waived a hearing to establish his identity, speeding the process for returning him to Minnesota where the charges against him have been filed.
Farah's younger brother Adnan Farah, 19, has also been charged in the alleged conspiracy, and made a first court appearance in St. Paul on Thursday with three other co-defendants.
Randy Furst • 612-673-4224
Twitter: @randyfurst
