Ukrainian court convicts foreigners who sent ISIS mercenaries to Syria, Iraq

"According to the materials of the Security Service of Ukraine, under the procedural control of the Prosecutor General's Office, a court sentenced two foreigners to ten years and three months in prison for setting up a channel for transporting terrorist militants to Syria and Iraq," the SBU's press service said.

According to the report, it was established during the pretrial investigation that two natives of a Transcaucasian country set up in Kharkiv region a point for the transfer of mercenaries to the ISIS international terrorist organization. In 2013-2015, the culprits "received" ISIS members from the republics of the North Caucasus of the Russian Federation, the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. They then transited them through Ukraine to the Syrian-Iraqi zone to take part in hostilities on the side of ISIS. The accomplices also provided them with finances, housing, and travel documents.

SBU operatives documented that the culprits had constantly coordinated their actions with the leaders of the Islamic State who stayed in Turkey and Syria. The perpetrators regularly received funds and other assistance from them to support terrorist activities.

The SBU also established that in October 2013, the convicts provided financial and material support to a militant to prepare and commit a terrorist attack in a Central Asian country.

According to the press service, during searches conducted in the convicts' places of residence and in their vehicles, law enforcement officers seized the symbols of the Islamic State terrorist organization, grenades, explosives, electric detonators, short-barreled firearms, and ammunition. They also found a large number of driver's licenses and passports of citizens of Central Asia, Russia, the European Union and Ukraine, equipment for making counterfeit seals and stamps, disks with photos of militants used to make forged documents, and payment cards of banks of different countries.

op