Terror suspect arrested for sending Bitcoin to Islamic State in Syria

Terror suspect arrested for sending Bitcoin to Islamic State in Syria

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Monday said that an arrested engineering student was allegedly involved in sending money to Daesh in Syria through the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

Addressing a press conference along with in-charge CTD Raja Umar Khatab, DIG CTD Omar Shahid Hamid said that they have been carrying out investigations regarding terror funding for quite some time. The suspects used to send money to the Daesh women in Syria.

The DIG said that money was being deposited in Karachi and being sent to Syria by the suspect, identified as Hafiz Umar bin Khalid, and his accomplice Zia. The DIG added that the CTD has carried out a forensic examination of Hafiz Umar Bin Khalid after he was arrested.

“Saad, an accomplice of Umar bin Khalid has disappeared. He was affiliated with the banned al-Qaeda network,” Umar Khatab said. Umar bin Khalid has been arrested and search has been underway for his facilitators, the official said.

CTD In-charge Raja Umar Khitab said that the suspect made a mobile phone account to get money. “He used to get money in this account and used to send it with an accomplice from Hyderabad,” said Khitab. He said that Zia used to first convert the money into dollars, then buy bitcoins from it and send it to Syria.

“The suspects have transferred close to Rs1 million within a year,” said Khitab. He added that the jihadi families use Twitter accounts to demand funds. Khitab said that Umar bin Khalid was a final year student at NED University.

It is to be mentioned here that the CTD had recently arrested main suspect Umar bin Khalid in terrorism funding case. Umar bin Khalid was earlier detained from Tariq Road in year 2020 over the illegal funding. The accused, however, was released on personal surety due to want of the evidence.

Source: Nayadaur