Tilburg mosque, 11 other buildings raided in money laundering investigation

In edition to the alFitrah mosque in Utrecht, the police and Tax Authorities also raided the As-Sunnah mosque in Tilburg-Noord as well as 10 other buildings across the Netherlands on Thursday morning. The authorities believe that the foundation behind the mosques, educational institutions and charity organizations in these buildings are involved in large scale money laundering, Omroep Brabant reports. According to the judiciary, the foundation receives hundreds of thousands of euros in the form of large cash deposits from within the Netherlands, but also from abroad. Part of the funds then go back abroad. The main suspects in the investigation are a father and his two sons. According to Omroep Brabant, the father is Tilburg imam Ahmad Salam. The three men have various management positions in a total of at lest 10 foundations. A fourth person is also considered a suspect. The judiciary considers a total of three foundations suspect - a charity foundation and two educational foundations. Both raided mosques have ties to these foundations. The investigation was launched based on a report by the Financial Intelligence Unit over 10 suspicious transactions by the foundations and individuals linked to them since 2012.