The recent arrest of a 33-year-old Tajik national in the United States by federal authorities has shed light on Turkey’s role as a critical conduit for financial and logistical operations linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K).
NORDIC MONITOR -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), through its Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York — which includes personnel from the FBI, the New York Police Department and more than 50 other federal, state and local agencies — apprehended Mansuri Manuchekhri on February 26. He faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS-K, illegal possession of firearms and immigration fraud.
According to court documents filed in the Eastern District of New York, Manuchekhri initially entered the US on a tourist visa in June 2016 but remained illegally after its expiration in December of the same year. Between December 2021 and June 2023 he allegedly conspired with people in Turkey to provide financial and logistical support to ISIS and ISIS-K, both designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the US government.
Evidence obtained by federal authorities indicates that Manuchekhri was in direct communication with ISIS operatives in Turkey, sending funds to support the group’s activities. While the complaint does not explicitly name his Turkey-based associates, the details strongly suggest the involvement of Tajik nationals Shamsullo Radzhobov and Shamil Hukumatov.
Radzhobov owned or operated a Hyundai sedan with Polish license plates that was used in the January 28, 2024 attack on the Church of Santa Maria (Meryem Ana Doğuş Kilisesi) in Istanbul’s Sarıyer district. The attack, claimed by ISIS, was carried out by Tajik national Amirjon Kholikov (aka Hamza) and Russian-born Tajik David Tanduev, who used Radzhobov’s vehicle as their getaway car after the killing of a Turkish citizen.
