$5M Reward For San Diego Man On FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List

SAN DIEGO — A $5 million reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a former San Diego resident on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List.

Jehad Serwan Mostafa, 37, is believed to be the highest-ranking U.S. citizen fighting with al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based terrorist organization. He has been charged with crimes involving ties to the group, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday. He was indicted on similar charges in 2009.

U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer said the indictment was unsealed in an effort to apprehend Mostafa.

"We believe this defendant is the highest-ranking U.S. citizen fighting overseas with a terrorist organization," Brewer said in a statement.

"Al-Shabaab's reign of terror threatens U.S. national security, our international allies and innocent civilians. Today we seek the public's assistance in capturing Mostafa and disrupting al-Shabaab."

While its terrorist attacks have been concentrated in East Africa, al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for attacks that resulted in the deaths of Americans and/or had ties to San Diego, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of California.

These include the 2010 Uganda suicide bombing of a bar during a World Cup soccer match that killed a U.S. citizen working for a San Diego nonprofit organization, as well as a 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya that killed more than 60 and injured U.S. citizens, including a graduate of Torrey Pines High School. As recently as Jan. 15, 2019, al-Shabaab executed an attack at a hotel in Kenya, where 16 civilians were killed, including a U.S. citizen.

Mostafa was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and raised in the Serra Mesa area of San Diego. In 2005, he graduated from UC San Diego and left the country. He joined al-Shabaab around 2006, according to the FBI. The group was designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.

Anyone with information about Mostafa can submit tips at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.