Daesh linked to $2M Istanbul robbery

Turkish media outlets reported yesterday that Daesh members were behind a $2-million robbery of an Uzbek national in Istanbul last year and that the militants behind the attack on New Year's Eve that killed 39 at a popular nightclub people were funded with the money.

Authorities decided to merge the investigation into the robbery of the unidentified Uzbek individual, whose car was stopped in Istanbul's Yenibosna district and robbed by three gunmen, with the attack in Reina.

Media reports say the stolen money was handed over to the terrorist group's militants, including those involved in the New Year's Eve attack. The police found some $197,000 in the possession of Abdulgadir Masharipov, the lone gunman who mowed down New Year's Eve revelers at a Bosporus nightclub. Masharipov was captured a few weeks after the attack while he was hiding in a residence in the city's Esenyurt district.

Daesh, which draws recruits from all around the world, long controlled an oil-rich area in Iraq and still holds several towns in Syria where it is engaged in clashes with Turkish-backed rebels.