The Herald have broken a rather shocking story this morning. They are reporting that several Irish students have been coerced into opening personal bank accounts by IS-sympathisers. These bank accounts have then been used to launder money earned through internet fraud, which is then used to provide logistical support to ISIS operations throughout Britain and Europe.
The students concerned were given monetary incentives to open the accounts and hand over the PIN numbers, account details and bank cards to the sympathisers who'd approached them. The sympathisers who'd bribed the students into assisting them hid their actual intentions and what the accounts would actually be used for from the students.
The Herald reports that some half a dozen students were coerced into setting up these accounts to transfer €2.8 million, that had been fraudulently earned from an Irish company in September 2016. The money was transferred in small amounts from these Irish accounts over the following months to overseas accounts.
This is the first time fraud of this nature, connected to ISIS, has been detected in Ireland.
It is understood that the person responsible for heading these cases of fraud is a man named 'Raza' who acted as a mentor to Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane, the two terrorists who committed the London Bridge attacks on June 3.
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He is wanted by Gardaí in relation to this €2.8 million fraud case, which was discovered after an operation by the Garda Economic Fraud Bureau. The money has been returned to the company that it was originally stolen from, and the bank accounts concerned have been frozen.
H/T: Herald.ie
