Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm
The indictment of an American citizen, prosecuted for funding the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has uncovered how Turkey grew to become a key conduit for illicit cryptocurrency transactions used to finance the jihadist group’s operations in Syria.
Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa, a 35-year-old Virginia resident and naturalized US citizen initially from India, transferred over $188,000 to ISIS. The funds had been used to assist safe the discharge of ISIS fighters and their households in Syria, using Turkish intermediaries and cryptocurrency.
In an affidavit submitted to U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Lindsey R. Vaala on Could 4, 2023, FBI Particular Agent Gary T. Marosy defined that funds despatched to ISIS in Syria typically adopted this technique by way of Turkish brokers. The cash was transferred through cryptocurrency, a difficult-to-trace type of forex, to couriers in Turkey. These couriers would then convert the cryptocurrency into money, which was secretly smuggled into Syria with out leaving a hint.
Intercepted communications revealed that Chhipa’s contact in Syria suggested him to not ship cash on to Syria or elsewhere, however reasonably to route it by way of Turkey, the place ISIS might safely acquire the money and redirect it to fund their operations in Syria.
Chhipa, an IT skilled who has lived within the US for the reason that age of 4 after his household emigrated from India, was flagged by the FBI in 2019. The regulation enforcement company was alerted when a dozen social media accounts he managed started posting violent jihadist messages.
Affidavit submitted to U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Lindsey R. Vaala on Could 4, 2023 by FBI Particular Agent Gary T. Marosy:
In a put up dated March 18, 2019 he wrote: “The sword is a should. Jihad is a should. Nothing terrifies the enemies – the enemies of the Muslimin– nothing terrifies them like energy, pressure and, weapons…Jihad is a brick and strong pillar of the Shari’ah…This din [religion] cannot be established and firmly planted with out jihad, ever.”
On the identical day, in one other put up, Chhipa quoted Shaykh al-Allamah Humud Ibn Ulqa ash-Shu’aybi, a famend radical Saudi cleric who was supportive of the Afghan Taliban and the September 11, 2001 assaults.
In a chat dialog on March 16, 2019 Chhipa mentioned he would both find yourself in jail, have interaction in jihad by transferring overseas or develop into a martyr by killing himself. In June 2019, throughout communications with a covert FBI-run social media account, Chhipa admitted his assist for ISIS and expressed his need to hold out an assault in opposition to what he referred to as infidels and hypocrites, hoping to die within the identify of Allah.
Chhipa fled the nation on August 2, 2019, believing he can be arrested following an FBI search warrant executed at his house. The US secured a blue discover by way of INTERPOL, requesting help in finding, figuring out or acquiring details about him in reference to a legal investigation. Chhipa was pressured to return to the US earlier than reaching Egypt, a part of his deliberate multi-route escape by way of Mexico, Guatemala, Panama and Germany. He was detained close to the Mexican-Guatemalan border and deported to the US by Mexican authorities on August 16, 2019.
The FBI uncovered a cache of proof through the search, which included directions for constructing a bomb, PDF copies of the ISIS publication Dabiq and images depicting beheadings and armed ISIS fighters.
After returning to the US with out going through prices, Chhipa believed he was within the clear and resumed his actions on behalf of ISIS. He steadily communicated with British ISIS girls dwelling in Syria who had been funding ISIS fighters and aiding within the escape of their relations from the Al Hawl camp (additionally identified as Al Hol).
The camp was established in 2016 to accommodate Iraqis and Syrians fleeing ISIS-controlled areas. By March 2019 over 50,000 girls and youngsters had settled in a particular part of the camp identified as the annex, following the ultimate defeat of ISIS by the US-led coalition. The annex is guarded by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters, who’re reportedly open to bribes to permit ISIS relations to flee the camp.
The annex continues to serve as a stronghold for ISIS ideology, working underneath strict Islamic sharia regulation just like that of ISIS. The SDF is taken into account a terrorist group by Turkey attributable to their alleged ties to the Kurdistan Employees’ Occasion (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist group by the US, the EU and Turkey.
Starting in November 2019, Chhipa began depositing money into his Apple Federal Credit score Union checking account, changing the funds into cryptocurrency by way of service suppliers Coinbase and Binance, and sending them to Turkey.
The FBI’s evaluation revealed that over $18,000 was despatched to cryptocurrency wallets related to ISIS girls in Syria, $61,000 went to wallets situated in Turkey, and greater than $60,000 stays unaccounted for.
US Authorities’s Memorandum in Assist of Pre-Trial Detention for Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa, an ISIS Suspect:
US_attorney_motion_for _detention_ISIS-suspect
In a communication obtained by the FBI, an ISIS member suggested Chhipa by no means to ship cash on to her, however reasonably by way of Turkey. “By no means despatched on to me it[’]s all the time despatched to [T]urkey after which secretly despatched to me with no tracks,” she wrote, prompting Chhipa to answer by saying that “I understand how it really works.”
The FBI used a number of covert accounts to speak with Chhipa and his ISIS contact in Syria by way of what is understood as FBI Managed Persona (FBICP), which refers to accounts operated by undercover brokers or confidential human sources. This communication was instrumental in deciphering the scheme Chhipa was operating for ISIS.
In late April 2023 the FBI positioned Chhipa underneath shut surveillance, which he observed, prompting him to aim to flee the nation for a second time. He acquired suggestions from an unidentified individual with a German telephone quantity on find out how to keep away from detection. When he withdrew $8,000 in money from his checking account, the FBI concluded that he was planning to flee.
Chhipa was arrested by the FBI on Could 4, 2023 on an arrest warrant charging him with offering materials assist to ISIS, a criminal offense that carries a possible penalty of as much as 20 years in jail and probably a lifetime of supervised launch. He was detained pending trial on Could 10, 2023.
Throughout a Could 2023 listening to, Assistant US Legal professional Anthony Aminoff revealed that Chhipa had a relationship with Allison Fluke-Ekren, an American ISIS member from Kansas who’s at the moment serving a 20-year sentence. Fluke-Ekren pleaded responsible in 2022 to organizing and main Khatiba Nusaybah, a battalion the place roughly 100 girls and women had been skilled in the usage of automated weapons, grenades and suicide belts. The 2 married by way of a web based encounter, and Chhipa had been trying to undertake Fluke-Ekren’s youngsters.
Chhipa’s case underscores how the federal government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to tolerate ISIS actions in and thru Turkey, reasonably than genuinely cracking down on the terrorist community. Official figures point out that solely about one in 4 ISIS detainees is arrested throughout arraignment in Turkish courts, successfully making a revolving door coverage for ISIS suspects.
Many ISIS suspects who had been arrested are later launched throughout trial hearings, and only a few truly obtain convictions and serve jail time. The Turkish authorities avoids disclosing what number of ISIS members have been convicted, regardless of parliamentary inquiries from opposition events.
For years, the Erdogan authorities turned a blind eye as ISIS moved fighters, funding and logistical provides by way of Turkey. Throughout 2015-2016, Turkish intelligence company MIT reportedly contracted the ISIS community in Turkey to hold out a sequence of violent bombings to additional a political agenda and assist the Erdogan authorities keep energy amid elevated terrorist threats throughout election cycles.