ISIS CARDIFF TERROR CASH LINK PROBE
AGROUP of Cardiff companies allegedly financed Islamic State terror plots in the US and helped ship military-grade equipment to Syria and Spain, according to FBI documents.
The papers reveal that thousands of dollars were sent from a company registered in Ffordd Pengam to a man living in America to allegedly “conduct a terrorist attack”.
The FBI documents add that various surveillance equipment worth more than $18,000 was sent by two Cardiff registered companies allegedly operated by the same people, across the world, including to a Turkish town 20 miles from the Syrian border and to Madrid.
Operated out of an office on the Alexandra Gate business park, Tremorfa, Ibacs Electronics Ltd (Ibacs) was directed by a former Pontypridd businessman, Siful Sujan, who was killed by a US drone strike in Syria on December 10, 2015.
Filed in a US federal court in Baltimore, the FBI documents show that a Mohamed Elshinawy, of Maryland, US, received $3,000 on May 14, 2015, from Ibacs.
FBI documents claim that Elshinawy pretended to buy printers from Ibacs as cover through Paypal but that no evidence of any printers was found.
The documents state: “The first payment of $3,000 was sent to him from a company in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2015, via eBay/Paypal.
“Elshinawy showed the interviewing agents the eBay/Paypal receipt of transaction on his laptop computer, which identified the UK company sending the payment as a company called Ibacstel Electronics.”
In an interview with officers he later admitted that he was instructed to use the money for “operational purposes” which he understood to mean “causing destruction or conducting a terrorist attack in the US”, as stated in FBI documents.
Documents add that between March and June 2015 he received a total of $7,700 in funds from Ibacs.
A statement by the US Department of Justice on August 15 this year said Elshinawy had pleaded guilty to terror-related charges including providing material support to Isis terrorism financing after being arrested in 2015.
Elshinawy expressed support for Isis and “described himself as a solider, committed to making violent jihad”, according to the statement.
It adds that Elshinawy could spend decades in prison for his crimes.
At one point an attempted transfer to Elshinawy was returned to the Corporation Road Post Office, Newport, where it was collected on March 23, 2015, according to the FBI documents.
In January 2015, according to the FBI: “Ibacs purchased two centre loaded mag mount scanner antennas from a electronic components company in the UK.”
It adds that on January 14 2015 Ibacs correspondence stated: “A small parcel [the antennas] would be arriving the next day, and he wanted [it to be shipped] to Ahmet Bayaltun in Sanliurfa, Turkey, which is located approximately 20 miles from the Syrian border.”
A transaction relating to militarygrade “pan-tilt” surveillance equipment “typically used on military and civilian aircraft” was made through another company registered in Cardiff, Advance Technology Global, that was incorporated in July 2015, according to FBI documents.
The FBI documents state: “This pan-tilt transaction was ordered through a company called Advance Technology Solutions, also known as Advance technology Global.”
Between May and July 2015, the FBI documents claim, Sujan was “involved in the purchase of, and communication about, multiple pieces of FLIR (Forward Looking Infared)capable, pan-tilt mounted units from a company in Canada selling military-grade surveillance equipment. The purchase totaled approximately $18,000 USD.”
The registered address for the company was the same address for Ibacs and the shareholders were listed as David and Peter Soren.
The FBI stated: “The registered address was the prior Cardiff address for Ibacs and the shareholders were identified as David and Peter Soren.
“The listed address for Peter Soren is Sujan’s prior UK address.
“More significantly, the IP address used to log into David Soren’s PayPal account (which lists the Ibacs business address in its account registration) was used to log into a PayPal account pertaining to Sujan.”
Investigators also found that a password for another Ibacs email address account had the password “killobama77” and was used to share terror-related content.
FBI documents state: “The password for this email address [ibacslimited@gmail.com], which was located in the Ibacs accounts found in the electronic media seized by UK authorities, was identified as “killobama77.”