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Update, 7:45 a.m. Saturday: There's a new revelation in the developing case of a Detroit man nabbed last weekend in an undercover federal investigation, Robert Snell reports in The Detroit News:
FBI counterterrorism agents have uncovered a link between Sebastian Gregerson, the American Muslim arrested Sunday after he allegedly bought illegal grenades, and an al-Qaida leader who radicalized underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, The News learned Friday.
When FBI agents raided Gregerson’s home on the west side of Detroit on Sunday, they found several CDs marked “Anwar al-Awlaki,” the al-Qaida recruiter who met with Abdulmutallab before the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack on a Detroit-bound plane, according to sealed search warrant records obtained by The News. . . .
The late, radical U.S.-born cleric was known for Internet sermons that helped inspire attacks on the U.S.
Update, 9:15 p.m. Thursday: "The defendant poses a danger to the community," a federal magistrate judge said Thursday in ordering pretrial detention without bond for a self-described explosives hobbyist arrested last weekend by the FBI.
A Beretta M-9 like this was traded for explosives.
The federal court hearing in downtown Detroit was for Sebastian Gregerson, a 29-year-old Detroiter who also uses the name Abdurrahaman Bin Mikaayl, as Tresa Baldas writes in the Free Press:
The accused talked of attacks and stockpiled deadly weapons, including AK-47s, thousands of rounds of ammunition, machetes, hatchets and perhaps most disturbing, the prosecutor said, grenades. . . .
According to court testimony, he converted to Islam shortly after graduating high school in the Ann Arbor area and eventually married a woman, who sat in the courtroom wearing a traditional Islamic head scarf and listened to allegations that her husband spoke of attacks and built an arsenal of deadly weapons.
An assistant U.S. attorney, Cathleen Corken, said her office "filed a sealed document in the case containing more evidence to back its claims that Gregerson spoke of attacks, concealed certain information, talked about using grenades against law enforcement if they came after him and had built an arsenal of deadly weapons," Baldas reports.
The paper quotes U.S. Magistrate Judge Mona Majzoub, who conducted the hearing:
"What does one do with a grenade? Why would anybody want to purchase a mine? . . .
"When I look at the totality of the case, I cannot escape the conclusion that the defendant poses a danger to the community. I'm going to order detention."
The defendant posted this last Aug. 20 as his Facebook page cover photo.
Original article, Tuesday morning:
A 29-year-old Detroit man, who amassed an arsenal of weapons, was arrested after the FBI says an undercover agent sold him five high-grade grenades, court records show.
Sebastian Gregerson, who also uses the name Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl (as at this Facebook page), was charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, reports Robert Snell of The Detroit News. Gregerson, who has a long brown beard and nearly waist-length hair, quietly read a copy of the criminal complaint.
He's charged with unregistered possession of a destructive device and the unlicensed receipt of explosive materials.
A 16-page affidavit signed by an FBI counterterror agent, details a 16-month investigation that began in April 2015 with a tip that Gregerson had grenades and bazookas. It is unclear from the affidavit whether Gregerson planned an attack, but at one point he told the agent: "I don't play around."
The investigation shows that besides the accumulation of weapons, he purchased 700 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, knives and ski mask.
"In the past 16 months," the affidavit says, "Gregerson has purchased an arsenal of weapons, ammunition, tactical gear and training materials."
On Sunday, Gregerson met the undercover agent at a gas station in Monroe, according to the affidavit. A second agent posed as an associate.
The plan was for Gregerson to give the agent a Beretta M-9 handgun. In exchange, the agent was to give him five fragmentation grenades, court records show.
After the exchange, Gregergson was immediately arrested.
► See details in FBI court filing
