United Nations: Close on the heels of the United States excluding six individuals and institutions from its list of terror financers, the UN Security Council has also decided to remove the sanctions placed on them.

Acceding to a US request, the UN Security Council on August 27 de-listed two Somali- born Swedes and an American besides three institutions, whose assets had been frozen last year as part of efforts to force the then Taleban regime in Afghanistan to hand over terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Generally, the committee places sanctions on the basis of information received from member states. But so far most of the information has come from the US.

The individuals named were Abdi Abdulaziz Ali, Abdirisak Aden (Swedish) and Garad Jama. The entities include Aaran Money Wire Service Inc., Global Service International and Barakat Enterprise. Somali-born Swedes Ali and Aden were associated with a Somalia-based entity al Barakat that was in money transfer business.

Jama owns the Aaran Money Wire Service in US.

US Under Secretary for Enforcement of Treasury Jimmy Gurule, had on August 22 asked the Council to remove the six names as they had proved that they had no terrorist links.

PTI