By US Sanctions Three Nigerian BDCs, Lagos-Based Man Over Alleged ISIS Financing Network
The United States government has imposed sanctions on a Lagos-based Nigerian and three Bureau De Change (BDC) operators over allegations that they facilitated financial transactions on behalf of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), an affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS).
The sanctions were announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as part of a broader action targeting an international financial network allegedly linked to ISIS operations across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.
According to the U.S. Treasury, three individuals and six entities were designated under Executive Order 13224 for allegedly facilitating financial transactions that enabled ISIS and its affiliates to move funds across borders.
Among those sanctioned is Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, a Nigerian national based in Lagos, whom U.S. authorities identified as an alleged financial facilitator for ISIS-West Africa. The Treasury Department alleged that Muhammad conducted money transfers on behalf of the terrorist group and operated several money exchange businesses that served as channels for financial transactions.
The three Nigerian BDCs named in the sanctions are:
- Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, Lagos
- Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, Lagos
- Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited, Kano
According to the U.S. Treasury, the companies are allegedly owned, controlled or directed by Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad and were designated for their purported role in facilitating financial activities connected to ISIS-West Africa.
The sanctions form part of a wider operation targeting financial facilitators in France, Syria, Turkey and Nigeria. The Treasury also designated French national Miloud Abderrahmane and Syria-based Abdelhakim Boukich, both accused of supporting ISIS-linked financial networks.
Announcing the measures, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said ISIS continues to seek new ways to finance its operations despite sustained international pressure.
“ISIS continues to seek new methods and tools to finance terrorist attacks. The United States will leverage every tool at its disposal to crush ISIS’s remaining capabilities and protect American lives,” Bessent said.
The Treasury noted that ISIS has increasingly relied on decentralized financial networks and intermediaries to move funds between its regional affiliates following years of counterterrorism operations that weakened its traditional financing structures.
Under the sanctions, all property and interests belonging to the designated individuals and entities that fall within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked. U.S. citizens and organizations are generally prohibited from conducting transactions with those listed, while foreign financial institutions risk secondary sanctions if they knowingly facilitate significant transactions involving sanctioned persons.
The development comes amid ongoing cooperation between the United States and Nigeria in counterterrorism efforts aimed at disrupting terrorist financing networks operating in the Lake Chad region and across West Africa.
As of the time of filing this report, Nigerian authorities and the affected companies had not publicly responded to the allegations contained in the U.S. sanctions announcement.
