Russian court orders arrest of 9 IS supporters

A Russian court on Friday ordered the arrest of nine supporters of the Islamic State (IS) for sponsoring terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

"Nine defendants in the criminal case have been charged with being participants of and supporting the terrorist organization. At the request of the investigation, the pre-trial restriction in the form of being placed into custody has been chosen," an aide to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee's Moscow department, Yulia Ivanova, told reporters.

According to the investigation, one of the defendants, who had initially joined the ranks of terrorists in Egypt, has organised this group. Upon his return to Russia in 2015, he started to look for people wanting to sponsor IS militants in Syria and Iraq.

He has created a chat group in a mobile app for the purpose and around 30 people have joined it. People wanting to support terrorists used to transfer money to his debit card. He then provided the money to terrorists.