One of the most senior ISIS officials ever caught alive is now in jail, according to sources. For his capture, the US has offered a reward of up to $5 million.
Iraq claims to have arrested the Islamic State’s finance chief, a rare arrest of a strong ISIS figure that could result in significant intelligence gains as the group is trying to re-emerge.
Iraqi intelligence agencies said on Monday that Sami Jassem al-Ajuz had been captured “by a major action by our forces in the National Intelligence Service and a special operation outside our borders,” as per a statement.
They didn’t indicate when or where the arrest took place. Mr. al-Ajuz, though, was arrested across the border in Syria, by a senior Iraqi intelligence official who wanted not to be identified because he was not allowed to speak with the media.
Mr. al-Ajuz is the Islamic State’s leading financial and economic official, per the Iraqi statement. He was a top aide to the group’s current leader and a former deputy to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a US raid in northwestern Syria in 2019.
