T

he Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) has confirmed a report that the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria has transferred funds to militants in Indonesia.

“We have detected [the transfer] and have passed the information on to the antiterrorism squad,” PPATK chief Ahmad Badaruddin said on Wednesday.

The PPATK said the money channeled to Indonesia would then be transferred to other places, including Marawi in neighboring Philippines, where IS-affiliated groups are battling Philippine forces.

Ahmad said he was not sure whether the authorities had frozen the bank accounts used to transfer the funds.

According to a report released by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), IS-linked militants’ operation in Marawi received funding from IS in Syria through Khatibah Nusantara, an IS group in Syria led by Indonesian militant Bahrumsyah and his associate Abu Walid, who has strong ties to Mindanao.

The funding is sent through Mahmud Ahmad, a Malaysian professor who reportedly sits in the inner circle of the Marawi command structure. Mahmud also reportedly arranged IS funding for Marawi to be laundered through Indonesia, using operatives of Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD).

From January to March 2017, Mahmud received at least US$55,000 sent from the Middle East to Indonesia with the help of Achmad Supriyanto alias Damar, a JAD member living in Banten, who later wired the money to the Philippines using Western Union, the American financial services firm.