OFAC Targets al-Shabaab Financial Facilitators

The Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated 14 individuals it says are part of "a network of al-Shabaab financial facilitators," according to an Oct. 17 OFAC notice. The targets have functioned as facilitators between the group and companies in Somalia, and have organized financing, money laundering, and weapons smuggling on behalf of the network, OFAC said. Other designees oversee the group's smuggling and weapons trafficking network in Yemen.

Al-Shabaab generates around $100 million per year through multiple funding streams, "including extortion of local businesses and individuals, collections of fees on goods, as well as the facilitation of illicit trades." The group has used the money to finance global al-Qaida efforts in addition to bolstering its own capabilities, OFAC said.

“Treasury is focused on identifying and disrupting al-Shabaab's illicit networks operating in Eastern Africa,” Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in an Oct. 17 press release. “We will continue to take action against the weapons smuggling and fundraising activities of al-Shabaab and other al-Qa’ida affiliates.”