A Somali man charged with making false statements to federal authorities spoke about jihad with undercover sources at a Texas immigration detention center, an FBI agent testified Thursday during a bail hearing in San Antonio.
Abdullah Fidse said that he had been a cook for Osama bin Laden and was "in tears" after a 2008 U.S. airstrike killed a leader of the U.S. designated Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab, Special Agent Mark Wagoner told a magistrate judge.
Wagoner also said that Fidse would talk about violent jihad and cite verses from the Quran such as "Gather your horses and weapons and terrorize the infidels."
A federal indictment filed in May charged Fidse and his wife Deka Sheikh with conspiring to provide false information which would obstruct the asylum and removal proceeding of Fidse and conspiring to lie about Fidse's ties to terrorism.
Though neither defendant faces terrorism charges, the indictment states that Fidse lied when he told FBI officials investigating his ties to terrorism that he had never made a statement in support of Osama bin Laden.
The indictment also alleges that an undercover source taped Fidse in 2009 claiming that he bought a $100,000 armed battle vehicle which was later destroyed during fighting.
At first, Fidse claimed that the voice in the recording was manipulated by the FBI to sound like his own. Fidse later admitted the voice was indeed him, adding, "I like to embellish things," Wagoner told the court.
Fidse and his wife, Deka, were denied bail. Each faces up to 13 years in prison if convicted on both counts.