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The U.S. Treasury has designated three males in Brail as being affiliated with al-Qaida and having given help to the terrorist group
RIO DE JANEIRO — The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday designated three males in Brazil as being affiliated with al-Qaida and having given help to the terrorist group.
The Treasury stated the motion targets the worldwide financing of al-Qaida. It stated all property and pursuits in property of the three males and any entities that they personal in america or which are within the possession or management of U.S. residents have to be blocked and reported to the Treasury.
Brazil’s federal police pressure declined to touch upon the U.S. assertion, and stated it additionally doesn’t touch upon whether or not investigations is perhaps in progress
The Treasury Division’s assertion recognized one of many males as Mohamed Sherif Mohamed Awadd, who it stated arrived in Brazil in 2018 and has obtained wire transfers from different al-Qaida associates within the nation. Awadd owns a furnishings retailer in Guarulhos, a metropolis within the Sao Paulo metropolitan space, the assertion stated.
The assertion alleged that Awadd and Ahmad Al-Khatib, the proprietor of one other furnishings retailer in Guarulhos, gave technological or monetary help to the terrorist group.
Makes an attempt by The Related Press to succeed in the 2 males by cellphone had been unsuccessful.
The Treasury linked the 2 males to Ahmad Al-Maghrabi, who it stated arrived in Brazil in 2015 and have become al-Qaeda’s contact within the nation. It gave no additional particulars on Maghrabi’s residence or livelihood and didn’t report something about any alleged collusion between him and the opposite two.
“The actions of this Brazil-based community exhibit that al-Qa’ida stays a pervasive world terrorist risk, and as we speak’s designations will assist deny the group entry to the formal monetary system,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian E. Nelson stated within the assertion.
Because the 9/11 terrorist assault, the U.S. authorities has imposed monetary sanctions in several international locations in search of to restrict financing of terrorist teams. About 300 residents allegedly affiliated with al-Qaida and different extremist teams have been focused.
The terrorism designation introduced Wednesday was the third U.S. motion involving Brazil over the past week.
Brazilian authorities and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement introduced that 4 people had been arrested final Thursday for alleged involvement in on-line threats, hate crimes and the planning of mass casualty occasions.
The folks belonged to neo-Nazi cells that had been planning assaults in public areas, reminiscent of faculties, in addition to hate crimes in opposition to Jewish and black civilians, U.S. officers stated in a press release. One of many perpetrators confessed he was planning to bomb a New Yr Eve’s celebration in Sao Paulo state, the assertion stated.
Final week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on folks and companies linked to drug trafficking gangs, together with the largest felony group in Brazil, referred to as the PCC. The is supposed “to focus on any overseas individual engaged in drug trafficking actions, no matter whether or not they’re linked to a particular kingpin or cartel,” the Treasury stated.
In 2019, the FBI stated it was searching for an Egyptian in Brazil, Mohamed Ahmed Elsayed Ahmed Ibrahim, on suspicion of appearing as an al-Qaida agent and facilitator for assaults on america since 2013.
Brazilian media reported then that Mohamed had entered the nation in 2018 and was approved to reside in Brazil.
Brazil has had an anti-terrorism regulation since 2016, handed earlier than the Olympic Video games held in Rio de Janeiro that 12 months. Days earlier than the opening ceremony, the nation’s federal police arrested 10 individuals who allegedly belonged to a cell that had professed allegiance to the extremist Islamic State group.
———— Related Press author Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
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