Prosecutors reveal link between terror defendant in Virginia and Islamic State ‘empress’ from Kansas

A northern Virginia man arrested on terrorism charges has a husband-wife relationship with another American who was dubbed by authorities as an “ empress of ISIS ” for her work to establish an all-female battalion of the Islamic State, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Mohammed Chhipa, 33, of Springfield, Virginia, was arrested last week on charges that he provided support to a terrorist group. Prosecutors allege that he transferred nearly $200,000 in cryptocurrency, with some of that money traced back to the Islamic State, to support Chhipa’s stated goal of helping smuggle female ISIS members from detention camps. Other funds remain unaccounted for.

At a detention hearing Wednesday, prosecutors also disclosed a relationship between Chhipa and Allison Fluke-Ekren, an American from Kansas who is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Fluke-Ekren pleaded guilty last year to organizing and leading the Khatiba Nusaybah, a battalion in which roughly 100 women and girls — some as young as 10 — learned how to use automatic weapons and detonate grenades and suicide belts.

Read more: AP