An Edmonton man who was extradited to the United States to face charges for helping to finance Islamic State terrorism pleaded guilty in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.
A statement from the United States Department of Justice says that, based on his plea agreement in federal court on Friday, Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi admitted that he provided money to his four cousins, as well as former San Diego resident Douglas McAuthur McCain, to finance their terrorist activities in Syria.
The statement says he also admitted to robbing an Edmonton jewelry store in 2014 to fund the conspirators’ journey from North America to support and join terrorist fighters in Syria.
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Abdullahi was charged in California in March 2017 and arrested by Canadian authorities in September 2017.
In June 2019, the Alberta Court of Appeals upheld his extradition and the Justice Department statement says he was turned over to US authorities that same year.
The statement notes that his four cousins and McCain, who was the first known American to die fighting the Islamic State, have since been killed.
“Terrorist networks cannot survive without people like Abdullahi,” US Attorney Randy Grossman said in the statement.
“Our top priority is to protect Americans from terrorists, and with today’s guilty plea, we have brought justice to someone who directly funded the violence.”
The statement said that terrorist activities included killings, kidnappings and mutilations of people in Syria.
Furthermore, he said that Abdullahi admitted that he and others sent and sent money to third-party intermediaries in Gaziantep, Turkey, not far from the Syrian border, to support fighting and terrorist activity in Syria.
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Grossman thanked the RCMP and the Edmonton Police Service, as well as prosecution services in Canada for their assistance.
The statement says Douglas’s brother, Marchello McCain, was previously convicted in federal court in San Diego and sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally possessing a cache of firearms and providing false statements to FBI agents regarding to your knowledge of the conspiracy, including involvement. by Abdullahi.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca