20 people and 29 entities have been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury for “facilitating” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda in the Maldives. According to the news agency PTI, two members of al-Qaeda and 18 ISIS and ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) facilitators are among those who have been sanctioned.
The purpose of these designations, according to a statement made on Monday by State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller, is to discourage and disrupt financial and other types of support for terrorist operations in the Maldives.
“The United States is steadfast in its commitment to counter the threats posed by these terrorist support networks, both locally and internationally, and to ensure they are deprived of funding and resources for carrying out attacks,” stated Miller as quoted by PTI.
“Treasury’s actions today against ISIS and Al-Qaeda operatives and facilitators continue our efforts to help prevent and disrupt financial and other support for terrorist attacks globally,” averred Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
“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,” he further added.
Leaders of criminal gangs with terrorist affiliations in the Maldives and colleagues of Mohamad Ameen, a prominent ISIS-K recruiter, are among those who have been sanctioned by OFAC as of 2019.
Several of the people who have been sanctioned, according to the US Treasury Department website, “also planned or carried out attacks that targeted journalists and local authorities.”
Additionally, any entities that are “directly or indirectly, individually or collectively, owned by one or more blocked persons at a percentage of fifty percent or more are also blocked.”
The US Treasury Department also cautioned that financial institutions or anyone that participate “in certain transactions or activities” with the sanctioned people or businesses may also be subject to sanctions or be the target of enforcement action.
