A chief inspector of the National Police who participated in the investigations into the Kutayni clan stated this Tuesday before the National Court that this family nucleus acted as an organization with "criminal activity" aimed at funding various factions of Al Qaeda in Syria.
The agent appeared as a witness in the trial against ten alleged members of the Kutayni clan, a Spanish family of Syrian origin, accused of sending money and materials to structures linked to Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria between 2013 and 2019.
According to the chief inspector, during the proceedings, the Police identified "clearly a hierarchical order" within the group, where its members had "clear attributions" and "a somewhat disorganized distribution of functions within the group's own organization," where "clear signs of criminal activity" were observed.
He added that the investigation aimed to clarify whether the clan's actions were "focused on collaborating, financing, or providing logistical support or any kind" to one of Al Qaeda's branches in Syria.
Financial support shipments
The investigator pointed out that a significant volume of operations aimed at "sending support" to the jihadist faction was detected through various systems, including "human couriers" or "remitters."
Likewise, he emphasized the use of 'hawala,' a mechanism for transferring funds between two territories where there is no physical movement of cash between countries, based on trust among the local managers of the network, known as 'hawaladars.'
The agents operated under the hypothesis that the money was sent to relatives of the clan, originally from the Syrian province of Idlib, considered since mid-2017 a stronghold of the Al Qaeda affiliate, members of the terrorist group itself.
The origin of the investigation
The police inspector recounted that the inquiries began after the return to Spain of a family member who had been arrested and sentenced in Syria in 2008 for a terrorist attack in Damascus in which 17 people died.
The purpose of the National Police investigation was to "know the activities" that this relative was going to develop upon his return to Spain and to determine if he "came with any mission" linked to Al Qaeda.
A police expert, who testified after the chief inspector, specified that the proceedings were opened because "the accused continued to maintain a relationship with their family in Syria," especially with those residing in Idlib, "where the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria dominated" and that, "in some way, they continued to help them, both on a personal level and on a militia level."
Similarly, he indicated that the money transfers were directed to a relative of the clan who was "the leader of a militia faction in that area of Idlib," as well as to several fighters of the terrorist cell involved in the attack carried out in Damascus in 2008, for which one of the accused was imprisoned.
The Prosecutor's Office maintains that the investigated facts fit into an alleged crime of financing terrorism and requests prison sentences of between five and six years for the defendants, in addition to fines that can reach 37,200 euros.