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.
Reports say that 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.”
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