(NL Times) 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.
