A UGANDAN national identified as Abubakar Swalleh, with alleged terrorist ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) or Al-Qaeda, has been red-flagged by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (FIUTT).
The FIUTT has issued a directive ordering all financial institutions in Trinidad and Tobago to freeze bank accounts or assets that may have been directly or indirectly affiliated with Swalleh.
The instructions issued by FIUTT director Nigel Stoddard came on June 17, 2025—the same day that Justice Karen Reid gave an order following an application made by Attorney General John Jeremie on June 11, 2025 for a declaratory order under section 22B of the Anti-Terrorism Act, Chapter 12:07, between the AG and Swalleh.
The matter was later gazetted on June 23, in which Justice Reid indicated that Swalleh, also known as Abubakar Swaleh and Tom Kiyurige, born in Uganda on January 13, 1992, “provides financial, material or technological support for, or financial or other services to, or in support of, ISIL (listed as Al-Qaeda in Iraq). He has acted since 2018 as an ISIL facilitator who provides financial and logistical support, including recruitment for ISIL in East and Southern Africa.”
Justice Reid ordered, pursuant to section 22B of the act, that the property “(i) owned or controlled by the defendant, (ii) wholly or jointly controlled directly or indirectly by the defendant, and (iii) derived or generated from funds or other assets owned or controlled directly or indirectly by the defendant be frozen.”
Stoddard stated in a release under the Ministry of Finance that following the court decision, each financial institution and business must immediately take the following actions:
“1. Verify whether it is in possession of funds or property: (a) owned or controlled (wholly or jointly, directly or indirectly) by the listed individual/entity; (b) derived or generated from funds or property owned or controlled (wholly or jointly, directly or indirectly) by the listed individual/entity; or (c) b elonging to persons or entities acting on behalf of or at the direction of the listed individual/entity; and freeze the said funds or property.”
High-level intelligence sources familiar with the matter told the Sunday Express that although it is unlikely Swalleh ever visited Trinidad, he may have had several associates in this country who are suspected of supporting the financing of ISIL and Al-Qaeda operations.
“You remember between the years 2013 and 2018 there were a lot of people right here in Trinidad and Tobago that were heading to Syria to fight for ISIL. We observed over a period of time financial trails of persons sending money to various persons affiliated with this organisation,” the intelligence source pointed out.
Senior immigration sources also came up empty-handed when trying to track whether Swalleh had ever visited this country.
In 2015, US Marine General John Kelly told a US Senate Committee that more than 100 would-be militants had left Trinidad and Tobago to join Islamic extremists in Syria.
Another legal source with knowledge of the issue said, “The financial institution and each listed business must immediately upon receiving the notice determine whether the person has funds or property owned and controlled by the person; money or property generated or derived from the person; or money belonging to the person or persons acting on behalf of or at the direction of the person. This last category is very broad in scope because the person to whom the notice applies does not have to be in Trinidad but can have agents acting on their behalf carrying out banking transactions on behalf of the person to whom the notice applies”.
Extradited to Uganda
On June 16, 2025, a day before Justice Reid’s ruling, Swalleh was placed on the United Nations Al-Qaeda Sanctions List as being associated with ISIL or Al-Qaeda for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of ISIL, listed as Al-Qaeda in Iraq”, for “recruiting for Al-Qaeda, ISIL, or any cell, affiliate, splinter group, or derivative thereof”, and for “otherwise supporting acts or activities of Al-Qaeda, ISIL, or any cell, affiliate, splinter group, or derivative thereof”,
In July last year, Swalleh was extradited from Zambia to Uganda, where he was charged with offences of terrorism financing and rendering support to a terrorist organisation.
He was also accused of supporting the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group formed during an uprising in Uganda but has since been based in Congo since the 1990s and pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2019.
Three weeks after Swalleh’s extradition to Uganda, the US Department of the Treasury also took action against Swalleh and two other individuals associated with ISIL and ISIS on the African continent. The US Department of Treasury said, “These individuals serve as key financiers and trusted operatives, enabling the activities of ISIS and its leaders across Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa.”
Making specific reference to Swalleh, the US Department of Treasury said, “He is involved in the physical transfer of funds from South Africa to the DRC. Additionally, Swalleh facilitates the movement of ISIS-affiliated individuals from Uganda to South Africa, and vice versa. Mohamed Ali Nkalubo, a DRC-based ISIS commander…relies on Swalleh to move funds and recruit members for ISIS’s DRC affiliate. Swalleh moved to South Africa under Nkalubo’s direction, where he has been involved in robberies and kidnap for ransom.”
