Hawala banker arrested for terrorism funding, sanction violations; Active since 2017
The FIOD arrested a 57-year-old man from Velsen last month for banking without a permit, terrorist financing, and violating the sanctions law. According to the FIOD, the man has been involved in hawala banking since 2017, receiving and paying out cash in various countries in the Middle East.
The FIOD started investigating the Velsen man after a tip from the Rotterdam police and found that his name and contact details emerged in multiple other investigations. These investigations also involve hawala banking in combination with terrorist financing, human trafficking, sanctions violations, or the smuggling of large sums of cash. Among others, the Velsen hawala banker emerged in the case of a woman convicted on January 16 of sending money to an ISIS jihadist in Syria.
“By combining information from various investigations, the FIOD was able to determine the identity of the previously unknown hawala banker,” the Tax Authority’s investigative department said. Hawala banking is a complicated system where money and assets change hands in a complicated set of transactions with various brokers and fronts. The goal is to keep the source of the cash untraceable, so it is often used for money laundering or other nefarious purposes.
The FIOD did not say what sanctions the man is suspected of violating. His connection to the woman convicted in January suggests that the terrorism funding suspicion involves ISIS.
The man was arrested on Monday, January 27. The authorities searched his home and seized mobile phones, hawala administration, and digital data carriers. He was remanded into custody for 30 days on Tuesday, February 11.
The investigation is ongoing.
