Iraq announces arrest of top ISIS financier

Kadhimi’s announcement came one day after Iraq’s parliamentary elections.
Sami Jasm, known by nom de guerre Haji Hamid, is pictured while in custody of Iraqi Security Forces. (Photo: Baghdad Operations Command)
Sami Jasm, known by nom de guerre Haji Hamid, is pictured while in custody of Iraqi Security Forces. (Photo: Baghdad Operations Command)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A top Islamic State leader who was in charge of managing the group’s finances has been arrested by Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced on Monday.

In a “complex external operation,” Sami Jasim, the chief financier of ISIS and deputy leader of slain Abu Bakir al-Baghdadi, was arrested, Kadhimi said.

The arrest was made “outside the border,” the Iraqi Security Media Cell said, without elaborating on the location.

Kadhimi’s announcement came one day after Iraq’s parliamentary elections.

Known as Hajji Hamid, al-Jaburi was one of the most-wanted figures of the ISIS leadership. He held a number of security, political, and financial positions within the group, including the deputy head of Tigris sector of ISIS in southern Mosul.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. raid in October 2019. He was in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

While former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that ISIS was defeated in December 2017, the group has proven capable of launching several hit-and-run attacks ever since, mainly in the territories disputed between the Iraqi central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil.