WhatsApp group exposed global hawala cash-transfer network
Belgian investigators uncovered a WhatsApp group called "Traders of Greater Europe" that held more than 82,000 messages from February to December 2022, revealing an informal hawala cash-transfer network spanning many countries. The probe, opened on terror-financing grounds, led to the 2024 conviction of six money launderers and the arrest of network leaders after authorities found about 6,000 photographs of €5 notes with serial numbers and roughly 6,000 identity-card photos. Evidence and witness accounts linked transfers to Islamic State, drug trafficking and large people-smuggling operations, leaving investigators to distinguish legitimate remittances from criminal flows and assess wider cross-border risks.
Hawala networks moved large cash sums across borders without bank trails.
Context
Belgian investigators found the WhatsApp group during a terror-financing case. The messages then showed a much larger hawala network across countries. Investigators must now trace transfers and decide which are criminal.
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