An Edmonton man extradited to the United States to face charges for his involvement in funding the Islamic State armed group has pleaded guilty in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.
According to his plea deal in US federal court on Friday, Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi admitted to providing money to his four cousins, as well as a former San Diego resident, Douglas McAuthur McCain, to fund their terrorist activities in Syria. , can we read in a press release from the United States Department of Justice.
The accused also admitted, according to the ministry, to having stolen a jewelry store in Edmonton in 2014 to finance the trip of the conspirators from North America to support and join terrorist fighters in Syria.
Abdullahi was charged in California in March 2017 and arrested by Canadian authorities in September 2017.
In June 2019, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld his extradition. According to the US Department of Justice, he was transferred to US authorities later in the year.
The statement reveals 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 ministry statement.
Terrorist activities have also been reported to have included killings, kidnappings and mutilations of people in Syria.
Abdullahi admitted that he and others wired and transferred money to third-party middlemen in Gaziantep, Turkey, not far from the Syrian border, to support the fighting and terrorist activity in Syria.
Prosecutor Grossman thanked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Edmonton Police Service, as well as the prosecution services in Canada for their assistance.
The US Department clarifies that Douglas McAuthur McCain’s brother, Marchello, has already been convicted in federal court in San Diego and sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegal possession of a gun cache and for providing false statements to FBI agents regarding his knowledge of the plot, including Abdallahi’s involvement.