Islamist Terrorist Group Profiled on World-Check Since 2003, Almost 5 Years Ahead of OFAC Designation

World-Check's researchers warned users of financial risk posed by Harakat Ul-Jihad-Islami/Bangladesh almost five years ahead of OFAC sanctions

London (PRWEB) April 9, 2008 -- World-Check, the leading global provider of structured risk intelligence, is proud to announce that its researchers profiled the Islamist terrorist group known as Harakat Ul-Jihad-Islami/Bangladesh in August 2003, almost five years ahead of its recent OFAC anti-terrorism designation. World-Check has once again warned users of a heightened risk entity years before its assets have been frozen by various sanctions agencies.

"Our researchers collated extensive information about the group including: fourteen known aliases, and profiles of six companies and eighteen individuals linked to the group," said David Leppan, founder and CEO of World-Check. "It is this very relationship mapping that enables World-Check users to trace the secondary and tertiary relationships that heightened risk entities may employ to facilitate their criminal activities."

Harakat Ul-Jihad-Islami/Bangladesh allegedly runs several training camps in southern Bangladesh, notably around Chittagong and Cox's Bazar and is believed to be allied to or cooperating with several regional militant organisations including Harakat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islami (HUJI) and Harakat ul-Mujahideen (HUM). Other affiliations purportedly include radical Islamic political parties within Bangladesh such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), Islami Okiya Jote, Kilafat-e-Majilis and Islami Shasantra Andolan. The group has allegedly received donations from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia via Muslim charities operating in Bangladesh and also allegedly derives funding from animal poaching, using Bangladeshi settlers in Assam, India, to hunt down rhinos, elephants, tigers, bears and monkeys for horns, tusks, pelts and teeth, bile and brains.
   
ABOUT WORLD-CHECK

World-Check provides its global database of heightened-risk individuals and businesses to more than 2500 institutions, including 47 of the world's 50 largest financial institutions and hundreds of government agencies. The database is updated daily in real-time by World-Check's international research team, and is derived from hundreds of thousands of public sources. Coverage includes Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), money launderers, fraudsters, terrorists and sanctioned entities - plus individuals and businesses from over a dozen other high-risk categories. World- Check's database and tools find direct application in financial compliance, anti-money laundering (AML), Know-Your-Customer (KYC), PEP screening, enhanced due diligence (EDD), fraud prevention, government intelligence and other identity authentication, background screening and risk-prevention practices.

http://www.treasury.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/actions/20080311.shtml

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/bangladesh/terroristoutfits/Huj.htm

###