This case is an illustration of the nexus between petty criminality and jihad activity.

“Canadian pleads guilty in U.S. court for funding Islamic State’s activities in Syria,” Canadian Press, December 18, 2021:

An Edmonton man who was extradited to the United States to face charges he helped fund Islamic State terrorism has pleaded guilty in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.

A statement from the United States Department of Justice says that according to his plea agreement in federal court Friday, Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi admitted he provided money to his four cousins, as well as former San Diego resident Douglas McAuthur McCain, to fund their terrorist activities in Syria.

The statement says he also admitted to robbing an Edmonton jewelry store in 2014 to finance the conspirators’ travel from North America to support and join terrorist fighters in Syria.

Abdullahi was indicted in California in March, 2017, and arrested by Canadian authorities in September, 2017.

In June 2019, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld his extradition and the justice department statement says he was turned over to U.S. authorities later that year.

The statement notes that all four of his cousins and McCain, who was the first known American to die fighting the Islamic State, have since reportedly been killed.

“Terrorist networks can’t survive without people like Abdullahi,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in the statement….

The statement said the terrorist activities included murder, kidnapping and maiming of persons in Syria.