More than 1,000 police and special forces officers raided homes, offices and businesses in three German states early Wednesday morning.
Officials were targeting an international money laundering network suspected to be involved in terror financing, German media reported citing police.
Police said the raids in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen at around 80 different locations were aimed at collecting evidence and seizing illegal assets. At least 10 suspects were arrested.
“The operation is ongoing,” a police spokesperson told Germany’s DPA news agency Monday morning.
Investigators with the public prosecutors in the western city of Düsseldorf spent months investigating and collecting evidence against the suspected criminal gangs.
The raids were said to have been particularly focused on that city along with nearby Wuppertal.
Germany’s WDR broadcaster reported that the network of money smugglers is said to have transferred over €100 million from illegal transactions to Turkey and Syria, and possibly funneled to terror groups.
The raids were carried out at over 80 locations in three states
Chance incident launches probe
The investigation is said to have started with a chance encounter, according to the news organization WDR.
Customs officers stepped in to help when a car was driven into a ditch at a highway exit near the German-Dutch border.
They offered to help two men who appeared slightly injured but refused any assistance. Realizing that something was wrong, they took a closer look at the car and discovered a gym bag with €300,000 (almost $350,000) inside.
One of the occupants was a Syrian national, Halid A., who was in the sights of the authorities for some time. He was already suspected of having supported “Islamic State” fighters in the Syrian province of Idlib. Until then, however, the suspicions were not enough for an arrest warrant.
Also in the vehicle was a German national, Manfred T., who, it’s thought, was not on the authorities’ radar.
Officials suspect money came from the Netherlands and that it was set to be transferred by the illegal hawala transfer network. The system uses a huge number of money brokers to move cash value illegally, avoiding traditional banking and financial systems.
The investigators placed the pair under investigation and discovered they were part of a larger group collecting money from refugees in Germany to send to Turkey or Syria. Some wanted to support their families with it.
Germany: Police raids in 3 states target international money laundering network
Source: Pinoy Pop News
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