PORTLAND, Ore. – Justice Department attorneys focused on the contact between an Oregon terrorism-sting suspect and suspected terrorists overseas in the opening salvo of their case.
Mohamed Mohamud was 19 when he was arrested. His defense team has said the FBI entrapped him in a yearlong sting. Key to the defense is proving Mohamud had no predisposition to terrorism before the FBI got involved.
But on Monday, FBI agent Miltiadis Trousas said government agents first found Mohamud because of his emails to an American-born al-Qaida recruiter.
Trousas says other communication, including a mention of martyrdom, convinced the bureau that Mohamud as "already radicalized and dangerous."
Mohamud faces terrorism charges after prosecutors say he tried to detonate a bomb in Portland in November 2010. The bomb was a fake supplied by the FBI.
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