Detroit Terror Suspect Accused of Acquiring Huge Arsenal for Jihad Attack

DETROIT, MI — A Detroit terror suspect previously accused of plotting with a Maryland imam to commit an act of violent jihad on behalf of the Islamic State faces new charges of acquiring an arsenal of weaponry that he allegedly planned to use in an unspecified attack to kill people, according to an indictment handed down Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

The new charges against Sebastian Gregerson, 30, accuse him of receiving explosive materials, grenades, assault weapons, handguns, rifles, shotguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

The indictment does not repeat earlier allegations that Maryland Imam Suleiman Bengharsa helped finance the arsenal.

In September, The Detroit News obtained more than 200 pages of sealed FBI search warrant affidavits in an investigation spanning at least three states. Gregerson, who also goes by the name Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, was arrested in Monroe on July 31 after a months-long investigation that he allegedly bought fragmentation grenades from an undercover FBI agent and amassing an arsenal of weapons.

“Based on the totality of the aforementioned information and evidence, there is reason to believe that Bengharsa and Gregerson are engaged in discussions and preparations for some violent act on behalf of (the Islamic State),” an FBI agent wrote in a Jan. 7 search warrant application.

The grenades Gunderson and Bengharsa allegedly purchased were similar to the type used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underwear bomber” who was sentenced to life in prison for a failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack on a Detroit attack on an airplane bound for Detroit from Amsterdam. That grenade contained 26 ounces of TNT and another explosive.

Gunderson, who is being held without bond at the federal prison in Milan, is merely a gun enthusiast, his court-appointed attorney, David Tholen, has argued, noting that the firearms were legally obtained. If the government has evidence he plotted jihad, it sould file terrorism charges, Tholen said.

The imam has called the allegations that he and Gunderson plotted jihad were “ridiculous” and “absolutely untrue” in an exclusive interview with The Detroit News in September.

For more on this story, go to the Detroit News.

Photo via FBI