October 28, 2009
http://detnews.com/article/20091028/METRO/910280436
Detroit mosque leader killed in FBI raids
PAUL EGAN
The Detroit News
Detroit -- The leader of a black separatist Detroit mosque was shot and killed Wednesday during a series of FBI raids that resulted in charges against 12.
At least six of those charged -- who face conspiracy, weapons, and stolen goods charges but not terrorism charges -- were in federal custody late Wednesday afternoon.
The case involves the Joint Terrorism Task Force and prosecutors from the national security unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit names Luqman Ameen Abdullah, imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group." He was killed in a gun battle during one of the raids, according to a joint statement by federal officials.
Abdullah, 53, also known as Christopher Thomas, was the local leader of a black Muslim group that calls itself "Ummah," or the brotherhood, and wants to establish a separate state within the United States governed by Sharia law, Interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg and Andrew Arena, FBI special agent in charge in Detroit, said in a joint statement.
The Ummah is headed nationally by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, who is serving a state sentence for the murder of two police officers in Georgia.
A 45-page complaint alleged that Luqman Ameen Abdullah "calls his followers to an offensive jihad," "regularly preaches anti-government and anti-law enforcement rhetoric" and preaches that every Muslim should "have a weapon and should not be scared to use their weapon when needed."
The complaint further alleged that an armed group known as the "Sutra team" protected the mosque. In January, when members were evicted from a building on Joy Road for non-payment of property taxes, Detroit police confiscated two firearms, about 40 knives and martial arts weapons from Abdullah's apartment, the complaint alleged.
The mosque then relocated to Clairmount in Detroit, the complaint says.
Abdullah was to be arrested on a complaint that included charges of conspiracy to commit federal crimes, sale or receipt of stolen goods, providing firearms to a convicted felon, being a felon in possession of body armor, and altering or removing vehicle identification numbers.
According to the complaint, Abdullah told an informant that if the FBI came to get him: "I'll just strap a bomb on and blow up everybody." On another occasion, he said: "We've got to take out the U.S. government," the complaint alleges.
The others charged are:
# Mohammad Abdul Salaam, also known as Gregory Stone, 45, of Detroit with conspiracy to commit federal crimes and sale or receipt of stolen goods.
# Abdullah Beard, also known as Detric Lamont Driver, 37, of Detroit with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
# Abdul Saboor, also known as Dwayne Edward Davis, 37, of Detroit with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
# Mujahid Carswell, also known as Mujahid Abdullah, 30, of Detroit and Ontario, Canada, with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
# Adam Ibraheem, 38, of Detroit with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
# Gary Laverne Porter, 59, of Detroit with conspiracy to commit federal crimes and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
# Ali Abdul Raqib, 57, of Detroit with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
# Mohammad Alsahi, also known as Mohammad Palestine, 33, of Ontario, Canada, with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
# Yassir Ali Khan, 30, of Ontario, Canada, and Warren, with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
# Mohammad Abdul Bassir, also known as Franklin D. Roosevelt Williams, 50, of Ojibway Correctional Facility with conspiracy to commit federal crimes, sale or receipt of stolen goods, mail fraud, supplying firearms to felons, possession of weapons by a felon, and altering or removing motor vehicle identification numbers.
One more man, A.C. Pusha, was charged in a separate complaint late Wednesday and charged with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
Salaam, Saboor, Porter, Beard, Ibraheem, Raqib, and Pusha all appeared in U.S. District Court in Detroit late Wednesday afternoon and were held pending detention hearings Thursday. Others charged are still at large.
The operation involved locations in Detroit and Dearborn.
Yellow police tape was put up outside a trucking and warehouse firm on Miller Road just north of Michigan Avenue, and a Dearborn police car was parked outside.
Another site involved in the raids was on Tireman near Interstate 96 on the city's west side. A third site raided by the FBI was on Genesee in Detroit.
pegan@detnews.com">pegan@detnews.com (313) 222-2069 David Josar, Charlie LeDuff, Oralandar Brand-Williams and George Hunter contributed.