U.S. sanctions 20 people accused of supporting ISIS, al-Qaida in Maldives

The Treasury under Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday announced a slew of sanctions targeting the Islamic States’ ability to generate funds in the Maldives. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 1 (UPI) — The United States has blacklisted 20 people accused of financially supporting the operations of the Islamic State and al-Qaida in the Maldives, as the Biden administration continues to attack the terrorist organizations’ global networks by targeting their ability to generate funds.

The sanctions were announced Monday by the departments of State and Treasury, who said that among those designated are key leaders and financial facilitators of the terrorist organizations active in the South Asian archipelago nation.

The punitive measures specifically target what the federal departments said was an ISIS-affiliated terrorist cell in Addu City, ISIS-aligned criminal gang Kuda Henveyru, al-Qaida operatives and associates of Mohamad Ameen, an ISIS operative who was sanctioned by the United States in 2019.

“Treasury’s actions today against ISIS and al-Qaida operatives and facilitators continue our efforts to help prevent and disrupt financial and other support for terrorist attacks globally,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said Monday in a statement.

“The United States is committed to denying funding and resources to these terrorist support networks and countering the threats they pose both locally and internationally.”

Biden administration officials said the Addu City ISIS cell has plotted terrorist attacks involving improvised explosive devices and unmanned aerial vehicles since at least 2018.

Its self-proclaimed leader, Jinaau Naseem, who turns 29 next week, was among those sanctioned Monday.

Kuda Henveyru is accused by the Biden administration of organizing large robberies to generate funds for Maldivian ISIS foreign terrorist fighters in Syria.

Some of those blacklisted Monday have also planned or carried out attacks on journalists and local authorities, the Treasury said.

Twenty-nine companies associated with those sanctioned Monday were also designated.

The sanctions — which freeze all U.S. property and interests in such property owned by those named Monday — were imposed days after the Biden administration hit a Somali man with sanctions on accusations that he is the financier of his nation’s ISIS branch.

“The United States will continue to deter and disrupt financial and other support for terrorist attacks in Maldives,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday in a statement.

“We are also committed to denying funding and resources to these terrorist support networks and countering the local and international threats they pose.”

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