Customs investigators bust underground bank in Saarland, seize cash, gold, and weapons

Saarbrücken/Frankfurt (Hesse) – The investigators rummaged through bundles of cash, kilos of gold and also found weapons: Frankfurt customs investigators broke up an underground bank in Saarland and executed three arrest warrants.

The action on Wednesday morning was directed against operators of so-called “Hawala” shops. The system, which arose in the Middle Ages in the Middle East, has enabled the rapid transfer of wealth while bypassing government agencies for centuries.

The word “hawala” means “change, transfer” in Arabic and “trust” in Hindi. This is a good description of how it works: Somewhere in the world, a depositor hands over money or gold to a “hawaladar”, telling where and to whom the sum should go. and determines a pick-up code. The “Hawaladar” at the sending location contacts a “Hawaladar” at the destination, telling him the code. If a recipient appears with the password, the sum is paid out to him.

Many people from the Muslim world use the system to harmlessly support their families back home. But also dirty money, for example from the Drug trafficking, is so transferred and laundered. Also Islamist terrorist organizations use it to control their financial flows.

Carina Orth from the customs investigation Frankfurt: “This unofficial money transfer system is used both for legal purposes but also opens up the possibility for criminals to transfer incriminated funds. In addition, ‘Hawala’ banking per se enables money laundering and is not only therefore prohibited without approval and control by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).”

That is why the Frankfurt investigators approached the underground bankers in Saarbrücken, St. Wendel and in the district of Neunkirchen on Thursday morning and executed enforcement orders at 13 different locations.

During the searches, the customs investigators seized 210,000 euros in cash and kilos of gold jewellery, bars and coins as well as foreign currency worth several hundred thousand euros. In addition, two pistols, which the money launderers probably had to protect their treasures, business documents and storage media. The leader (31) of the group and two accomplices ended up in custody. Two other suspects were released.