A San Diego man who returned from Syria a few weeks ago was arrested in Rancho Bernardo Wednesday, accused of hiding from the FBI his participation in gunbattles alongside al-Qaeda-backed fighters, his role on a Sharia court and several other alleged connections to terrorist activity during his time overseas, according to a complaint filed Thursday. Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati, 24, was arrested by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force officers at his home near Caminito de la Gallarda and Pomerado Road and charged with making false statements involving international terrorism. He pleaded not guilty in a brief hearing in San Diego federal court Thursday afternoon and is set to appear again Tuesday, when the prospect of bail will be discussed. The arrest adds to a growing number of San Diegans accused of connecting with radical Islamic groups overseas. Prosecutors said the case is unrelated to a pair of arrests here Sunday that involved Somali-American men from Minnesota accused of preparing to cross into Mexico from San Diego and join the Islamic State. Saeed, born in Syria, came to the U.S. around 2001 and became a U.S. citizen through his father’s naturalization, according to court records. He lived in Charlotte, N.C., as a teenager and came to San Diego, where he has extended family, about six years ago. Saeed left San Diego in 2012 for Istanbul, Turkey, apparently in an unsuccessful attempt to fetch his mother and bring her to the United States. He was later deported from Turkey, where his family opened a sandwich shop, to Syria, a friend said outside court. Saeed tried to fly back to San Diego on March 5 but was turned away and told to visit the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, the complaint states. Five days later, Saeed spoke with an FBI agent and Diplomatic Security Services special agent there. Authorities allege Saeed lied when he was asked several questions about his activities in Syria, denying that he was a member of the Sharia court or had any affiliation with the Islamic State or al-Nusra, both terrorist organizations fighting the Syrian regime. He claimed that while he owned an AK-47, he was never involved in any fighting and had only shot it in the air a few times, the complaint states. Federal court documents say an investigation into Saeed’s Facebook communications, as well as statements he eventually made to FBI agents, revealed there was much more to the time spent in his war-torn homeland. In a September 2013 Facebook email to a friend, he wrote he was working for the Sharia Authority at Hanano, describing the official body as “a government in the liberated area, being set up upon the Islamic religion, and governed by the Quran,” according to the complaint. He told another friend he was the “media person” for the Sharia Authority, a job which apparently included posting news memos about court business, according to postings on his Facebook cited in the complaint