In a bid to cut off the flow of funds to ISIS, the United States has announced fresh sanctions against three individuals and three companies, including a Somali national, for allegedly providing material support to the militant group.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in a statement, said that it has imposed sanctions on Mohamed Mire Ali Yusuf and his companies Liibaan Trading and Al Mutafaq Commerical Company for his part in the global financial network. Yusuf and his companies have been listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
“Mohamed Mire Ali Yusuf (Mire Ali) was designated for assisting in, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to or in support of, ISIS,” the statement reads.
The U.S. Treasury alleges that Mire Ali is an ISIS-aligned financial operative who provided funds to Abdulqadir Mumin (Mumin), the leader of the Islamic State in Somalia through his livestock trading business which served as a front for ISIS in the Bari region.
Mumin has been under U.S. sanctions for his role in the Islamic State since August 2016.
Also listed in this sanction list are Yunus Emre Sakarya and his Turkey-based firm Profesyoneller Elektronik, and Abdulpatta Escalon Abubakar (Abubakar).
Sakarya’s business is alleged to have been involved in the procurement of drone components for ISIS since at least 2015.
Abubakar is said to have been a financial operative for ISIS and it’s network in the Philippines. He was arrested in late September 2017 by Filipino authorities as he was travelling from the Gulf to the Philippines.
The sanctions prohibit U.S citizens and companies from engaging in transactions with them. The U.S. says that the decision is to disrupt or stop the flow of funds to the militant group.
