A federal grand jury returned an indictment charged an Alexandria man with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization operating in Somalia. According to court documents, Liban Haji Mohamed, a Somali-born naturalized United States citizen, allegedly left the United States in July 2012 with the intent to join al-Shabaab in East Africa. Mohamed allegedly attempted to recruit an undercover agent to travel to Somalia to provide combat training to al-Shabaab fighters. Mohamed also allegedly planned to use his own media skills to improve al-Shabaab's propaganda machine, which it has used to recruit Westerners. Mohamed was a close associate of convicted terrorist Zachary Chesser, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to al-Shabaab.

See also: US v. Chesser