"They were unable to meet with Awlaki, so instead travelled to Sana’a, Yemen, to meet with one of his associates and gave him approximately $22,000 to be given to Awlaki."

Two Indian brothers were among the four charged by the U.S. on Thursday with providing support to al-Qaeda and defrauding the US banking system. Farooq Mohammad and Ibrahim Mohammad are accused of providing material support to a designated global terrorist, Anwar Al-Alwaki in Yemen. The indictment says that Farood travelled to Yemen, to meet the al-Qaeda leader. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case.

Except that both brothers came to the U.S. to study engineering, more information about the brothers were not immediately available. Farooq (37) came to the U.S. as an engineering student at Ohio State University between 2002 and 2004 and in March 2008, he married a U.S. citizen. Ibrahim (36) studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 to 2005. Later he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and married a U.S. citizen and became came a permanent resident of in 2007, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

The other two among the four - Asif Ahmed Salim (35); and Sultane Room Salim (40) – are U.S. citizens.

“According to the allegations in the indictment, Farooq Mohammad, Ibrahim Mohammad, Asif Salim and Sultane Salim conspired to provide and did provide material support to Anwar Al-Awlaki in response to his calls to support violent jihad,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P Carlin. “The charges in this case outline a plan to send thousands of dollars to a known terrorist,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M Dettelbach.

The incidents alleged in the indictment took place between January 2005 and January 2012 when the defendants allegedly “conspired to provide money, equipment and other assistance to Anwar Al-Awlaki.” “The indictment also alleges that the defendants’ support was to be used in furtherance of violent jihad against the U.S. and U.S. military in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world,” the Justice Department said.

According the to department, the defendants made various financial transactions in 2008 and 2009, and communicated about raising funds for a trip to the Middle East. Farooq and Ibrahim are charged with “opening credit cards and withdrawing money with no intention of repaying the amounts obtained from the financial institutions.”

The indictment says on July 22, 2009, Farooq Mohammad travelled with two other people to Yemen to meet Awlaki. “They were unable to meet with Awlaki, so instead travelled to Sana’a, Yemen, to meet with one of his associates. Farooq Mohammad and his two fellow travellers gave the associate approximately $22,000 to be given to Awlaki.”