Dibrani, Imishti and Matoshi Network (Jihadi Entity, Belgium)

• Local Name: N/a
• Transliteration: N/a
• Alternatives: N/a
• Status: 2016 – 2016 (Defeated)
• Conflicts: Islamist Militancy in Belgium

The Dibrani, Imishti and Matoshi Network [DIMN] was an Islamist militant entity that operated out of the Flemish city of Sint-Niklaas in the mid-2010s.¹ It was made up of Muslim Roma from Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia.² Some of its operatives were in Belgium illegally.³ Key members of the DIMN were Mahid Dibrani and Kastriot Matoshi. Associate Arben Imishti was based in Syria and served as the network’s liaison with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham].⁴

The DIMN was mainly involved in raising funds for the DaIISh.⁵ Operatives apparently sometimes masked as members of an Islamic charity to solicit donations from fellow Muslims.⁶ The money was transferred to Imishti.⁷ The network also provided logistical support to jihadis traveling between Europe and Syria.⁸ The DIMN never planned to carry out attacks, although one of its members apparently wanted to bomb a shopping center in Sint-Niklaas.⁹ A Swiss-based associate of the network reportedly made plans for a suicide bomb attack in Belgium.¹⁰

In December 2016, Belgian security forces rolled up the DIMN in a series of raids on premises linked to the network in Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels and Sint-Niklaas.¹¹ Eight associates, including Dibrani and Matoshi, were apprehended during the operation.¹² Five of those arrested were released shortly afterwards.¹³ On Feb. 26, 2018, a court in Dendermonde convicted five DIMN operatives on terrorism charges and sentenced three of them to prison.¹⁴