Ukraine’s SBU security service has arrested Tsezar Tokhosashvili, a senior warlord with the notorious terror group Islamic State known by his nom de guerre Al Bara Shishani. Tokhosashvili was detained in Kyiv Oblast, the security agency reported on Nov. 15.
The successful operation was conducted in cooperation with Georgia’s Interior Ministry and the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States.
Tokhosashvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen origins, occupied the post of the amir of the Islamic State’s religious-terrorist cell in the province of Latakia in Syria.
Starting in 2013, Tokhosashvili rose through the Islamic State’s ranks, becoming a deputy to Tarkhan Batirashvili, more commonly known as Abu Omar al-Shishani, a former Georgian Army serviceman of Chechen origins turned top Islamic State military commander.
Islamic State warlord Al Bara Shishani (Tsezar Tokhosashvili) was arrested by Ukraine’s SBU special service on Nov. 15, 2019.
After the assassination of Batirashvili in 2016, Tokhosashvili went to Turkey where he continued coordinating the terror group’s activities. But in summer 2018, the terrorists migrated illegally to Ukraine under a forged passport, according to SBU.
He managed to obtain legal status in Ukraine and continued coordinating Islamic State cells.
“Ukrainian law enforcers arrested the criminal in the Kyiv Oblast near a private house he lived in,” the SBU said.
“A visual analysis proved the arrested foreigner to be actually the wanted Islamic State leader.”
As of now, Tokhosashvili remains under rendition arrest, the Ukrainian special service said, adding that an investigation will determine whether he committed crimes on Ukrainian territory.
