Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi, 37, a former San Diego, California resident was accused of encouraging and financially aiding the travel of six North American nationals, including an 18-year-old cousin, to Syria, for the purpose of joining ISIS, according to a statement from the US justice department.
He was arrested by Canadian authorities in 2017, and extradited to San Diego in 2019 “to face the material support charges in the indictment,” the statement added.
The Canadian national pleaded guilty to all charges in December 2021, also admitting to have wired money to ISIS intermediaries in Turkey, and having personally committed armed robbery in Edmonton, Canada in January 2014 to raise funds to support the militant group’s activities in Syria.
US federal court sentenced Abdullahi to 20 years in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.
ISIS seized control of vast swathes of Syrian land in 2014 but was declared territorially defeated in 2019 after forces of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) overran its last bastion in Baghouz.
While the group lacks any territorial presence on the ground, it still continues to pose serious security risks through bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions.
