Three women, two of them living in the United States, were arrested in their homes Wednesday and charged with raising money for the terrorist group al Shabaab.
Muna Osman Jama, 34, from Reston, Virginia and Hinda Osman Dhirane, 44, of Kent, Washington, are accused of coordinating a network of women who sent monthly payments to terrorists in Kenya and Somalia.
The women used code words to communicate about their activities, calling their payments "living expenses" and the terrorists their "brothers in the mountains" or "orphans."
The third woman arrested, Farhia Hassan, lives in the Netherlands.
Two others are suspected in the case, one a fugitive in Kenya and another a fugitive in Somalia.