CTD arrests engineering student who allegedly sent bitcoin to Daesh in Syria

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Sindh Police on Monday claimed to have arrested a student of Karachi’s NED University of Engineering and Technology over charges of “international terror financing”.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Omar Shahid Hamid, the CTD chief, said at a media briefing they had received a piece of intelligence-based information that some men involved in raising funds for Daesh and transferred the generated amount to the organisation internationally.

The anti-terrorism cops raided a locality near the Cantt Station on December 17, 2020, and, after facing resistance, arrested Muhammad Omer bin Khalid and seized two cellphones from his possession.

The following interrogation and decoding of the cellphones did not help find any major clues, and the suspect was later bailed out by a court of law. However, the investigators sent the cellphones to the Forensic Division of the CTD’s Technical Division.

DIG Hamid said they received a forensic examination report on January 11, 2021, which confirmed the association of Omer with Daesh and that he used to transfer the money to banned organisation ISIS in Syria.

The suspect allegedly had direct links with families of terrorists associated with Daesh in Pakistan and Syria.

Moreover, he used to receive money from an unidentified person via a mobile money-transfer company. After the arrival of the money, a person, Zia, who hails from Hyderabad, used to exchange the amount for dollars and Bitcoins, and transferred the amount to Daesh terrorists in Syria and to their families.

DIG Hamid said that when the banned organisation and its people received the money in Syria, they informed Omer about it. He added that the practice of the transfer of money had been going for the past two years.

Later, an FIR was lodged at the CTD police station and la hunt for Omer began. During the hunt, after anti-terrorism authorities were informed that the suspect was escaping to upcountry via train, CTD police led a raid at the Cantt Station and arrested him on Sunday evening. Omer is the final year student in the NED University. Further investigations are under way.