French Authorities Arrest 29 Suspected of Using Crypto to Fund Extremists in Syria

Sep 30, 2020 at 11:40 UTCUpdated Sep 30, 2020 at 11:44 UTC

French police

(NeydtStock/Shutterstock)

In a major operation on Tuesday, French police arrested 29 people suspected of funding Islamist extremists in Syria using cryptocurrency.

As reported by ABC News on Wednesday, the operation was an attempt to crack a complex scheme of terrorist funding said to have been masterminded by two French extremists who have been residing in northwestern Syria and have still not been apprehended.
The 29 people arrested for questioning from across France are suspected of funding terrorist activities as part of an elaborate financing network.
Two of the 29 are suspected of being key in the cyber-financing system and for providing logistical aid to keep the network – active since last year – running.
The network was discovered by Tracfin, a French economy ministry that tracks fiscal fraud, terror financing and money laundering.
Hundreds of thousands of euros are suspected to have been supplied through the network benefiting members of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group still holding out in the region.
According to ABC’s report, the network members in France purchased cryptocurrency coupons and transferred the details by secure messaging to jihadis in Syria.
The French prosecutor’s office detailed that a score of people in France would regularly buy the coupons worth between €10 to €150 euros (US$11 to $165), which were credited to accounts opened by jihadis abroad and then cashed out on an exchange platform.
France initiated its investigation in January when Tracfin detected the Syrian network.