Ashmawy's name appeared in the media for the first time in September 2013, as one of the prime suspects in the attempted assassination of interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim Moustafa, the other suspects being Emad Abdel Hamid and suicide bomber Waleed Badr. Security forces raided his house and the gym he frequented later that same year. They found a large amount of combat training equipment in his residence. His wife later told the prosecution that she hadn't heard from him since the assassination attempt. Egyptian authorities have linked his name with several militant cells and operations throughout the following year, including the Arab Sharkas case and the 2014 Farafra ambush, which he had personally executed and previously planned while based in Ansar al-Sharia camps in Libya. Ashmawy was assigned the training of ABM recruits in 2014, and commanded the organization's cells in the Egyptian mainland. He fell out with ABM that same year, however, when it declared allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and became Wilayat Sinai. ABM, both in Sinai and in the mainland, had consequently split between members loyal to ISIL and some others linked to al-Qaeda. Ashmawy's mainland operations were gradually taken over by Wilayat Sinai commander Ashraf al-Gharably.