Family funded terrorist brother in Syria
A MOTHER and daughter who were caught sending cash to a terrorist relative in Syria through a courier in Uganda have been jailed.
Stella Oyella, 53, and Vanessa Atim, 32, sent more than £1,800 to Joseph Ogaba, who left the UK to join Islamic State (IS) in Syria in 2014.
Oyella and Atim, both from east London, knew that the money was funding Ogaba’s terrorist activities, police said.
Investigators found the pair had attempted to cover their tracks by sending the money through contacts in Uganda and the Middle East.
Oyella and Atim were jailed for three years and three years and nine months respectively yesterday, having being convicted of terrorist fundraising after a trial at the Old Bailey which ended on Dec 20 2023. The Met Counter Terrorism Command investigation was supported by the Syrian authorities.
Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “This case shows how we work with international partners to close the net on people who support terrorist activity, no matter how much time has passed.”
Ogaba, who is Oyella’s brother and Atim’s uncle, left north London and travelled to Syria, via Germany and Turkey in September 2014. The Muslim convert left a note for his family stating that he was going to join IS. Atim was detained at Heathrow on March 12 2018, and Gatwick Airport on Dec 12, 2018, under the Terrorism Act. On both occasions devices were seized and messaging app conversations recovered.
Syrian authorities reported Ogaba had died in prison after his capture by Syrian Defence Forces in July 2022.