Four Uzbek nationals arrested in Korea over alleged Syria terror support
Police say the suspects sent cryptocurrency and vehicles to a UN-designated extremist group operating in Syria.
Used cars from Syria used by Uzbek nationals who were arrest by Gwangju police in April on charges of sending cryptocurrency and used cars to the terrorist organization Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
GWANGJU METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY
GWANGJU — Gwangju police arrested four Uzbek nationals, including one wanted on an Interpol Red Notice, for funneling cryptocurrency and used cars to a United Nations-designated terrorist group active in Syria, authorities said Tuesday.
Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency's security investigation division arrested the four in April on charges of violating the Act on Prohibition Against the Financing of Terrorism for sending cryptocurrency and vehicles to Katibat Tawhid wal Jihad, also known as KTJ. The alleged ringleader was indicted and detained, with his trial ongoing, while the other three suspects are being investigated without detention.
KTJ is a Syria-based Islamist extremist group formed in 2014, made up primarily of fighters from Central Asia, that fought in the Syrian Civil War with the goal of establishing an Islamic theocratic state in Central Asia. It has been designated a terrorist organization by the UN and the United States, among other countries.
According to police, the ringleader entered Korea in 2017 on a D-2 student visa, graduated from a university in Daejeon and remained in the country as an undocumented overstayer starting in 2023. From August 2024 to April 2025, they allegedly sent 4,267 units of the cryptocurrency USDT (Tether) — worth about 6.3 million won ($4,500) at the time of his arrest — to KTJ across seven transfers.
The ringleader is also accused of using cryptocurrency received from KTJ to send the group 11 used cars and two excavators worth a combined 170 million won to Syria, where KTJ operates. The other three suspects are accused of helping the ringleader purchase and ship the vehicles.
Police said the ringleader took elaborate steps to avoid detection, rotating between three personal cryptocurrency wallets and having payments for the used cars deposited into an account under his spouse's name to obscure the source of the funds. When arrested, he presented another person's driver's license.
"Previous terrorism-related cases involved sending funds to terrorist groups, but this is the first case of receiving funds from a terrorist group and purchasing and supplying vehicles in return," police said. "The investigation led to the arrest of another Interpol Red Notice suspect and remains ongoing."
At the suspect's first trial hearing in June, the ringleader denied the main charges, saying the money was sent to cover family living expenses and that the buyer of the vehicles was unknown to them. The ringleader also said their younger sibling had joined KTJ only for self-protection amid violence against Uzbeks in Syria.
BY HWANG HEE-GYU [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
