South African arrested for transferring bitcoins to an organization that allegedly has terrorist ties

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

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South African arrested over R11,500 Bitcoin transfer

Ziyadh Hoorzook, a 35-year-old South African man, appeared in the Lichtenburg Magistrates Court this week after being arrested on allegations of terror financing.

According to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, better known as the Hawks, Hoorzook transferred bitcoins worth R11,500 to an organisation that allegedly has terrorist ties in 2017.
 
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What irks me to death with this, is that we have active ISIS terror cells in this country, amongst other terror groups - being financed by "fronts" such as gift giving and stuff, and Govt is cozy with terror governments - but that's ignored and you never hear of a bust.

Some oke transfers Bitcoin and the whole of the Hawks are assigned to it...
 
neoprema said:
What irks me to death with this, is that we have active ISIS terror cells in this country, amongst other terror groups - being financed by "fronts" such as gift giving and stuff, and Govt is cozy with terror governments - but that's ignored and you never hear of a bust.

Some oke transfers Bitcoin and the whole of the Hawks are assigned to it...
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The state did well here.


He doesn’t even deny making the payment. Which means it is an open and shut case. You cannot accidentally fund terrorism.

The charge is that on the same day (2017), bitcoin was reportedly transferred from Hoorzook's Luno wallet to a wallet associated with an organisation that describes itself as "an independent charity".

Sounds ridiculous?

Wait for more:

"During the search, it was also found two of his licenced firearms were not locked in a safe as prescribed by law."

Eight years later all Batohi could find is that Hoorzook's licensed firearms were not kept in an appropriate safe?

While I am hopeful that based on the flimsy charges made public via media reports, Hoorzook's legal team will have no difficulty to have the case against him thrown out, I hope too that the US/Israeli hand will be exposed and discredited.
Click to expand...

Of course, your local Muslims are buttmad that one of their own got caught redhanded funding Islamic terorism.

https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/is-the-npa-chasing-shadows--mrn
 
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Daniel Puchert said:
South African arrested over R11,500 Bitcoin transfer

Ziyadh Hoorzook, a 35-year-old South African man, appeared in the Lichtenburg Magistrates Court this week after being arrested on allegations of terror financing.

According to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, better known as the Hawks, Hoorzook transferred bitcoins worth R11,500 to an organisation that allegedly has terrorist ties in 2017.
Click to expand...
Bitcoins? Don't you mean Satoshi's?
 
Bitcoins (with an s at the end) always sounds like how an ouma would say it.

Bitcoins worth R11,500 were allegedly bought through Luno, a South African cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider, after Hoorzook transferred funds from his bank account.
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:ROFL:
 
Wrath of Khan MD said:
Written by another die hard Hamas & Hezbollah supporter : Iqbal Jassat

Pathetic journalism 101, they just can't help themselves. Within 5 seconds of reading it they are going off about the US and Gaza, FML
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Yeah already on the bold subtitle it was obvious lol... one sided of note.
 
R11,500 transferred in 2017. What did that buy the alleged terrorists? Groceries?

Don't get me wrong I'm all for putting criminals, especially terrorists behind bars but the cost of resources being wasted chasing such a small amount must be a 100 times this, especially considering the court case is only being heard now in 2025. The Hawks need to get their priorities straight.
 
neoprema said:
What irks me to death with this, is that we have active ISIS terror cells in this country, amongst other terror groups - being financed by "fronts" such as gift giving and stuff, and Govt is cozy with terror governments - but that's ignored and you never hear of a bust.

Some oke transfers Bitcoin and the whole of the Hawks are assigned to it...
Click to expand...
Our government hates competition.
 
konfab said:
He don't even deny making the payment. Which means it is an open and shut case. You cannot accidentally fund terrorism.
Click to expand...

Something I'm waiting to get more detail on before I report it is that he discloses he donated to al-Sadaqah.

I suspect his defence is that al-Sadaqah only later said the donations were for soldiers and not for humanitarian aid. However, the TV reports cut off before his lawyer got to that part.

"Sadaqah" is Arabic for charitable giving or a voluntary offering, and is one of the pillars of Islam. So one could argue that this group was using religious overtones to exploit people and trick them into giving.

For those who want more detail, al-Sadaqah is a group that emerged in 2017 that solicited donations to support mujahideen in Syria.

It looks like our guy here donated right in the beginning, and was one of a few people who actually contributed (fell?) for this campaign.

From testimony before a U.S. House Committee (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115hhrg31576/html/CHRG-115hhrg31576.htm):

Late last year, CSIF began monitoring a jihadist funding
campaign on Telegram, calling itself al-Sadaqah, Arabic for the
charitable giving. The group claimed to be raising bitcoin
funds for fighters in Syria. We monitored al-Sadaqah's social
media channels and analyzed their bitcoin address, which it
would highlight regularly asking followers to donate
anonymously with bitcoin.
In its initial campaign, it sought $750 for camp
reinforcements. Within weeks, we noticed the address, the
bitcoin address received $685 worth of bitcoin. The group
continued requesting funding for logistical supplies, but only
received a handful of bitcoin transactions, none of them as
large as the $685 early in the campaign.
However, as the address lagged in receiving donations, they
introduced techniques for supporters to give funds--or new
techniques. At one point, the group encouraged followers to
purchase bitcoin vouchers for a website that took payment in
euros. The group posted sites where supporters could use
bitcoin ATMs to buy cryptocurrencies. Clearly, the campaign
organizers were trying to make the bitcoin process easier for
novices.
Their most significant adaptation, though, was eventually
branching out beyond bitcoin.
Click to expand...
 
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