A Kenyan has been linked to the surviving of the most dangerous terrorist group in the world.
A Kenyan citizen is now at the center of channeling of financial support to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis), a terrorist group.
The Treasury Department also said Kenya-based Halima Adan Ali was part of a network that moved more than $150,000 (about Sh15,166,500.11) through the hawala system to Islamic State fighters in Syria, Libya and central Africa.
She has been arrested twice by Kenyan authorities and is also alleged to have served as a recruiter for Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants, according to the Treasury Department. With the announcement, the US will seize any assets belonging to Ms Ali and bar any Americans from financial dealings with her.
Ms Ali was sanctioned alongside seven other people based in Belgium and Turkey.
“Treasury is dedicated to ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS by cutting off all remaining sources of their terror funding around the globe,” said Sigal Mandelker, the department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Earlier in September, the US imposed sanctions against another Kenyan also accused of running a worldwide financial network in support of Isis.
Waleed Ahmed Zein was described by a US Treasury Department official as “a dangerous terrorist who established an intricate global network of financial facilitators for Isis, using intermediaries to evade police and fund their deadly ambitions.”
The intricate web that helped finance Isis operations spanned Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and East Africa, the Treasury Department said.
Funds were sent to Isis fighters in Central Africa as well as in Syria and Libya, the US announcement added.
Mr Zein was arrested by Kenyan police in July last year on terrorism financing charges along with Ms Ali. They were arraigned in Milimani Chief Magistrate’s Court, where Mr Zein was charged with 10 counts of facilitating acts of terrorism.