US Treasury blacklists Yemeni business over support for al-Qaeda

 

The United States Treasury Department has added a Yemeni currency exchange business to its list of terror groups, citing the firm’s support for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The Al Omgy Exchange, based in the southwestern city of Aden, and its owners, Salih Abd-Rabbuh al-Omgy and Muhammad Salih Abd-Rubbuh al-Omgy, were added to the US-designated list of terrorist groups on Tuesday, Reuters reported,

The AQAP has been using the firm for financial transactions for several years, according to the department.

The move blocks the al-Omgies’ access to their assets in the United States and bans American citizens from engaging in any transactions with them.

The firm supposedly dispersed funding throughout the impoverished country and received deposits, including extortion payments from other businesses.

Said was said to be the owner of several money exchanges in Aden, while Mohammad, a co-owner, was said to be an AQAP member, involved in fundraising for insurgency in Iraq in 2005.

The US says it is fighting al-Qaeda in Yemen, where its assassination drones have been carrying out targeted killings.

The al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been taking advantage of the chaos and breakdown of security in Yemen to tighten its grip on the southern and southeastern parts of the impoverished country.

Yemen is also engaged in defense against a deadly aggression by neighboring Saudi Arabia since March 2015.

UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council on Monday that some 21.2 million Yemeni people, 80 percent of the population, needed some form of humanitarian aid.