Detroit-area terror suspect jailed amid bomb, IS concerns
DETROIT — An ex-con from Ypsilanti at the center of an FBI counterterrorism investigation in 2017 risks being sent back to federal prison after prosecutors accused him of buying dangerous weapons while under court supervision and downloading Islamic State manuals for making bombs, explosives and poisons.
Prosecutors and court records describe a series of actions by 35-year-old Yousef Mohammad Ramadan that raise concerns about whether he was preparing for a terror attack three years after being released from federal prison. The government’s concerns coincide with a nationwide warning about ongoing bomb threats targeting synagogues, Jewish community centers, schools, hospitals, airports, government buildings and other public institutions.
Prosecutors said the tow truck driver has been communicating with the Islamic State’s media wing, downloading manuals for making poisons, including ricin and cyanide, watching Islamic State combat and execution videos, and harboring what Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Salzenstein called “an unending urge to obtain dangerous weapons.”
“His support of ISIS has never waned,” Salzenstein told U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Altman during a detention hearing Friday in federal court in Detroit.
Altman concluded Ramadan posed a danger to the community and ordered him jailed while awaiting a hearing Thursday, when U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg could order him to spend up to two more years in federal prison.
The allegations are reminiscent of the case against convicted Sebastian Gregerson, a paroled Islamic State “soldier” from Detroit. Gregerson, 37, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, was sent back to federal prison for 18 months in 2022 after he was caught amassing weapons, consuming radical jihadi propaganda and deceiving court officials — steps consistent with preparations made by terrorists ahead of lone-wolf attacks, Berg said at the time. Gregerson was released in October.
Ramadan’s lawyer, Amanda Bashi, said Ramadan is being targeted for his beliefs and for consuming Islamic State media, which does not constitute a violation.