South Korean police have charged four Uzbek nationals with financing terrorism following arrests made in April by the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency's security investigation division. One of the four was wanted on an Interpol Red Notice.
Authorities say the alleged ringleader sent 4,267 USDT across seven transfers between August 2024 and April 2025 to Katibat Tawhid wal Jihad, a Syria-based group designated as a terrorist organization by both the United Nations and the United States. KTJ was formed in 2014 largely from Central Asian fighters.
The ringleader is also accused of receiving cryptocurrency from the group and using it to purchase 11 used cars and two excavators, worth a combined 170 million won ($121,000). These vehicles were then shipped to Syria. The other three suspects allegedly assisted in buying and exporting the vehicles.
Police characterized the case as unprecedented, stating: 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.
The alleged ringleader has been indicted and is on trial. He entered South Korea in 2017 on a student visa, graduated from a university in Daejeon, and had been living in the country as an overstayer since 2023. The other three suspects are under investigation without detention. Police said the investigation led to the arrest of a second Interpol Red Notice suspect and is continuing.
