MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A self-confessed al-Qaeda insider who later renounced his claim has been arrested on suspicion of running a $1.49 million online auction scheme to fund terrorism, British media reported Sunday.
Hassan Butt, 35, was arrested in Manchester in September 2015 in relation to a company titled Mi Genie that reportedly conned thousands of eBay customers by taking orders for, then failing to deliver electronic goods, according to The Guardian daily.
The publication says Butt first claimed to have played a role in sending scores of Britons to terrorist training camps abroad, including a ringleader of the July 7, 2005, attacks in London.
He renounced Islamist extremism after the deadly attacks, but admitted in court four years later he was a “professional liar” who told what “the media wanted to hear.”
The publication quoted a Metropolitan police spokesman as saying Butt and his suspected accomplice “appeared on police bail on 18 November and were further arrested on fraud offences.”
Other outlets cited Butt’s family as saying the arrest and raid were a plot to persecute his family.
