FBI Raids Travel Agency to Investigate Missing Somalis
August 9, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the office of a Minnesota travel agency this week for clues to the disappearance of 20 Somali-American men believed to be fighting in Somalia’s civil war.
Omar Jamal, spokesman for the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, says the owner of Amana Travel was approached several months ago by two young men who wanted to travel to Somalia. Jamal says the owner, Ali Mohamud, refused to book the tickets when he learned the young men’s parents were unaware of their plans.
But about 20 Somali-American men from the Minnesota area, including those two young men, have disappeared in the last two years. They are believed to be in Somalia fighting with the Islamist militant group al-Shabab against the Somali government and its allies.
The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terrorist group.
