Lebanon arrests man suspected of transferring money to ISIS in Syria

Lebanese security forces have arrested a man accused of transferring nearly half a million dollars to the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria, a judicial official tells AFP.

Forces “arrested a man who had stolen $400,000 from his father’s safe, and investigations showed that he had transferred the money to Syria” for ISIS, the official says on condition of anonymity.

The inquiry also showed that the individual was “part of a cell active between Lebanon and Syria” that included three members who are in prison in the Lebanese city of Tripoli and “handled coordination with ISIS in Syria,” the official adds.

Two other suspected cell members are believed to have crossed Lebanon’s porous border into Syria after the matter was uncovered.

The group “was responsible for funding ISIS with the aim of carrying out terror acts, whether inside Syrian territory or in Lebanon,” the official adds.