Nine people were arrested in Moscow on suspicion of financing the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS, banned in Russia), the Press service of the capital’s department of the Investigative Committee said. The organizer of the community and his accomplices “gave confession under the weight of the evidence presented”, added the Investigative Committee.
According to investigators, the alleged community organizer joined the ISIS when he was in Egypt. In 2015, he came back to Russia and began looking for like-minded people who would be ready to provide material assistance to the group. In an unnamed mobile application, he created a group and began to attract “verified persons” there, who agreed to send money to the militants in Iraq and Syria, according to the investigation. The group included three dozen people.
The suspected group organizer spoke separately with each of them. To do this, he took them to Kokoshkino (near Moscow) “where they even took the oath of allegiance to the terrorist organization”, the press release said. After the initiation, it was assumed that recruits would transfer money to the ISIS monthly.
The leader of the group raised funds for his bank cards and then transferred them to the accounts of combatants, as the investigation established. This money went to the support of the material and technical units of terrorist organizations and preparation of terroristic attacks.
Representatives of the FBI and the anti-extremist department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs assisted in the investigation of the IC officers. Investigators worked out the close ties of the suspected organizer of the scheme and found his accomplices. Searches in the case were conducted in Moscow, Moscow Region, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria.
The Press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that a native of Kabardino-Balkaria was accused of organizing the group. He received the task to organize a collection of ISIS assistance in Russia from one of the leaders of the group, and the investigation was established.