Feds Arrest Four Southern California Men Accused of Plotting Violent Jihad

Four Southern California men were arrested this weekend and charged on Monday with plotting a violent jihad against the United States according to a criminal complaint filed in a US District court.

One of the men, Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, allegedly traveled in July to Afghanistan, where he arranged for terrorist training to be conducted with Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives.

Kabir, who lived in Pomona, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, federal authorities said.

In 2010, Kabir allegedly introduced Ontario resident Ralph Deleon, 23, and Upland resident Miguel Alejandro Santana, 21, to "radical and violent Islamic doctrine," according to the complaint.

"Kabir influenced Santana and Deleon to convert to Islam," the complaint said.

The complaint said the men studied Internet essays and lectures by Anwar Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric and U.S. citizen who was killed in Yemen in 2011 by missiles fired from a U.S. Predator drone aircraft.

After arriving in Afghanistan, Kabir told the two men that he had arranged for them to travel to that country for terrorist training, the complaint alleged.

Santana and Deleon are accused of telling a confidential source working for the FBI that they planned to go to Afghanistan to take part in "violent jihad," the complaint said. Santana is a permanent resident born in Mexico, authorities said, and Deleon is a permanent resident born in the Philippines.

In September, the two men recruited Riverside resident Arifeen David Gojali, 21, to travel overseas with them and join Kabir for terrorist training, according to federal authorities. Gojali is a U.S. citizen.

Santan, Gojali and Deleon were apprehended Friday by authorities with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. They appeared before a magistrate Monday in federal court in Riverside.

Kabir was taken into custody in Afghanistan. The investigation is ongoing. If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in federal prison.

Authorities allege that Kabir kept in touch with his co-conspirators in Afghanistan via Skype and social networking sites. The four men were reportedly interested in training at a Taliban camp near Jalalabad and waging jihad against foreign targets in Afghanistan or Yemen using explosives. Federal agents reportedly moved in to make the arrests when a confidential informant told them that Santana, Gojali and Deleon had sold off posessions to purchase plane tickets from Mexico City to Istanbul with the intention of travelling on to Afghanistan from there.