€1m cash transfers to fund terror discovered
Money was sent over course of five years from office in Puglia to collectors based across the world
Italian police have discovered that more than €1 million ($1.2 million) were sent over the course of five years from a money transfer office in Puglia, in southern Italy, to 42 foreign collectors based in different countries. Investigators believe that the sum was destined to finance terrorism.
The investigation by Italy’s financial police has been called “The Lebanese” because of the nationality of the man who sent money from Andria to terror contacts. His identity has not yet been revealed.
The entire sum was divided into transfers worth less than €1,000 each in an attempt to avoid rousing the suspicion of financial authorities.
A report was sent to the public prosecutor’s office in Bari by the French judicial authority and Eurojust, an agency based in The Hague that is in charge of investigating and prosecuting transnational crime. Four people were arrested on charges of financing terrorism.
The Italian investigation started on Jan. 10, 2017. The financial police investigated two transfers worth €950 each made in three minutes from a money transfer agency in Andria to the Lebanese citizen.
In a press conference attended by Arab News, Col. Luca Cioffi of the financial police said that the man collects money for “foreign terrorist fighters.”
Subsequent investigations have documented further transfers of money from the same money transfer agency based in the north of Bari, the capital city of Puglia, to recipients in Serbia, Turkey, Germany, the UAE, Albania, Russia, Hungary, Jordan and Thailand.