5 Men Arraigned In FBI Terror Case

Men Arrested During Series Of Raids in Dearborn, Detroit

DETROIT — Five men who were arrested in connection with conspiracy to sell stolen goods and being followers of a radical Imam who was killed during FBI raids were formally charged in federal court Thursday. Muhammad Abdul Salaam, Mujahid Carswell, Abdullah Beard, Adam Hussain Ibraheem and Garry Laverne Porter all either stood mute or entered not guilty pleas on federal charges ranging from illegal possession and sale of firearms, arson, theft from interstate shipments and tampering with vehicle identification numbers.

The men, except for Carswell, were arrested during a series of FBI Raids on Oct. 29. Several other men, who did not appear in court Thursday were also arrested.After a two-year investigation, the FBI raided three locations in Detroit and in Dearborn and arrested several people suspected to have ties to a group called the Ummah, which translates to “the brotherhood.”During the raid in Dearborn, Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, aka Christopher Thomas, was killed in crossfire with the FBI.

Ummah’s primary mission is to establish a separate sovereign Islamic state governed by Sunni law, according to FBI charging documents. Abdullah called his followers to an offensive jihad, rather than a defensive jihad, according to the FBI.FBI charging documents also said the group was financing its version of Islam by fencing stolen goods and that their leader, was interested in killing federal agents and making a bomb.Carswell is Abdullah’s son. He was arrested a few days after the raids in Canada. He was the only man who was already out on bond.The rest of the men will remain in police custody until they apply for bond.Local 4 has learned Porter, 59, is a convicted felon and a current teacher at A.L. Holmes Elementary School in Detroit.Deeper Look At UmmahThe group consists primarily of African-Americans who converted to Islam while serving sentences in various prisons around the county.

Watch: Ummah: Who Are They?

The nationwide leader is believed to be Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison for the murder of two police officers in Georgia.Al-Amin, a veteran of the black power movement, started the group after he converted to Islam in prison.”They’re not taking their cues from overseas,” said Jimmy Jones, a professor of world religions at Manhattanville College and a longtime Muslim prison chaplain.

“This group is very much American born and bred.”The FBI built its case over two years with the help of confidential sources close to Abdullah who recorded conversations and participated in undercover operations involving the sale of furs, laptop computers, televisions, energy drinks and power tools.Abdullah received at least 20 percent of any profit and claimed the “Prophet Muhammad said that it is okay to participate in theft; as long as that person prays, they are in a good state,” stated an affidavit.The FBI complaint described Abdullah as an extremist who believed the FBI bombed New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 and the Oklahoma City federal building two years later.The group preaches violence against law enforcement officials and has trained members of the Ummah inside of a mosque located on Joy Road on how to use firearms, martial arts, sword fighting and other types of self-defense in anticipation of government violence, according to the FBI.

Undercover agents in the organization have told the FBI that Abdullah used to discipline its members starting at an early age by beating them with sticks on their hands, knees and legs, and that once he beat a boy so badly that the child was unable to walk for several days.Abdullah was spiritual leader at the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit until the group was evicted for not paying taxes. When the group left that location, a search turned up empty shell casings, and large holes in the concrete walls, which were used as shooting ranges.

The group moved to a location on Clairmount Street in Detroit and put up a sign in front of the building Wednesday evening notifying the members to meet in another location.In October 2008, a source the FBI called “credible” recorded statements by Abdullah at a mosque during prayer where he said that Muslims need to cut ties with Christians, Jews, and Kuffars, which the FBI said means all non-Muslims.“Obama is a Kafir. McCain is a Kafir, all the rest of them Kuffars, are Kuffars…. The worst Muslim is better than the best Kafir,” said FBI documents.Dawud Walld, executive director of the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the FBI paints a very different picture of the Abdullah that he knew.”He was known by thousands of Muslims in Metro Detroit. He was very well-respected amongst his piers and other Imams,” said Walld.Walld said Abdullah used to open the mosque to homeless people and he would hold regular soup kitchens.”They’re altering his legacy and someone needs to speak out about it and the good things he has done,” said the defendant’s brother Juhadel Jihad. “They killed a great man. He shouldn’t be labeled anything than that. He was a God fearing man who prayed five times a day and gave to charity.”

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