US blocks USD 63 million in funds of worldwide terrorist teams in 2019: Report

The US blocked USD 63 million in funds of designated terrorist teams, together with Pakistan-based outfits, in 2019 as a part of its crackdown on international terrorist organisations, in keeping with an annual report by the treasury division.The report launched by the US Department of Treasury on Thursday states the US blocked USD 342,000 in funds of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), USD 1,725 of the Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) and USD 45,798 of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen-al-Islami. All the three teams are Pakistan-based terror outfits. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen-al-Islami is a Islamic jihad group working primarily in Kashmir. Another Pakistan-based Kashmir centric terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has USD 4,321 blocked by the US in 2019 as in opposition to USD 2,287 the earlier 12 months, the report stated. For the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, the US blocked USD 5,067 in 2019 as in opposition to a paltry USD 318 in 2018. The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the main US Government company accountable for implementing sanctions in opposition to the property of worldwide terrorist organisations and terrorism-supporting international locations. The federal physique implements these sanctions as a part of its normal mission to manage and implement financial and commerce sanctions primarily based on US international coverage and nationwide safety objectives. According to the report, in 2019 the US blocked USD 63 million in funds of practically 70 designated terrorist organisations, with the best being USD 3.9 million of the al-Qaeda group. While the full blocked funds in 2018 was USD 46 million, that of the al-Qaeda was USD 6.4 million that 12 months. The checklist contains the Haqqani community (USD 26,546). It is a big improve from USD 3,626 in 2018. The US continues to dam USD 580,811 in funds of the Sri Lanka-based Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has remained the identical for 2 years — 2018 and 2019. The report indicated a big drop in Taliban funds being blocked by the US from USD 296,805 in 2018 to USD 59,065 in 2019. According to the report, the mix of sanctions programmes focusing on worldwide terrorists and terrorist organisations with these focusing on terrorism-supporting governments represent a wide-ranging assault on worldwide terrorism and its supporters and financiers. The US additionally blocked USD 200.19 million in funds of nations designated as sponsors of terrorism — Iran, Sudan, Syria and North Korea. PTI LKJ SCY SCY