"Kommersant" discloses details of case of financing IS*

Investigators treat Alim Begiev, a native of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), as the organizer of the fundraising scheme for militants in Syria and Iraq. He was allegedly involved in the transfer of millions of roubles to militants through the republics of Northern Caucasus.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 27, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) announced the detention of nine people, accused of financing a terrorist organization. Searches and detentions were conducted in Moscow, Moscow Region, KBR and Dagestan.

To recruit members of the grouping, they used a prayer room in a shopping centre and a group in the WhatsApp, the "Kommersant" wrote in its September 28 article.

According to the ICRF, Begiev initiated discussion of videos about events in Syria and Iraq, so that the grouping members were gradually inspired by radical ideas; then, he offered them to swear allegiance to the "Islamic State"*, and then attracted "recruits" to raise money. Among those, who did it, there were natives of Northern Caucasus, in particular, of Chechnya, and of Central Asia.

The money raised in Moscow was sometimes sent directly to militants and their relatives, but more often they organized transfer of cash to Dagestan and the KBR; and there, the money was deposited to the accounts accessible by militants.

Amounts were in millions of roubles: during a search, five million roubles were seized from one of the grouping members. In Syria and Iraq, militants bought cars that were used during the warfare or for terror acts, the "Kommersant" has written.

* Islamic State (IS, earlier – the ISIL) is a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 28, 2019 at 09:17 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.