Man suspected in aiding missing Somalis back in court

by Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — A pretrial motions hearing is scheduled Tuesday for a Somali man who has pleaded not guilty to lying to the FBI.

26-year-old Abdow Abdow is accused of lying to agents investigating whether about 20 young Somali-American men went to their homeland to fight with terrorists.

Authorities say Abdow drove to Nevada with four people, some of whom left the U.S. The Nevada Highway Patrol stopped Abdow on Oct. 6, and Abdow's attorney wants evidence from that traffic stop to be kept out of the case. He says there was no basis for that stop.

The motion is one of many expected to be brought up in court.