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What did the investigation uncover?

A WhatsApp group with 532 members was found to have been used to organize cross-border cash flows stretching from Europe to the Middle East and to cities in the United Kingdom such as Birmingham and London. According to the investigative journalism network of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the structure handled transfers worth hundreds of millions of euros without leaving an official paper trail; some payments also reached militants linked to ISIS.

Messages from the Belgian case file

The group was registered under the name “Traders of Greater Europe”. More than 82,000 messages sent between late February 2022 and December 2022 came to light during an investigation led by Belgian examining magistrate Vincent Guerra. The file was initially opened on suspicion of terror financing, but as the inquiry progressed, evidence emerged pointing to a much broader money flow.

In the 2024 court proceedings in Belgium, six people, including Abu Adam, who was said to be at the head of the network in Brussels, and his deputy Abu Ahmed, were convicted of money laundering. On Abu Adam’s phone, investigators found not only the group chat but also a photo of 6,000 five-euro banknotes with serial numbers visible and images of 6,000 identity cards; investigators believe this could point to at least 12,000 transactions. Police also found evidence that the defendants had funneled money to ISIS to be sent on to militants’ wives in camps in Syria.

How does hawala work, and why does it escape scrutiny?

Hawala is an old transfer method based on two trusted money brokers in different countries completing transactions without creating electronic records. One broker receives cash, while a second broker in another location pays the recipient the same amount, minus a commission; the brokers settle their accounts later. That is why the system can operate outside monitoring mechanisms such as SWIFT, which banks use.

  • The method can also be used for legitimate purposes, such as by migrant workers sending money home to their families where access to banking is limited.
  • At the same time, it can become an attractive channel for criminal networks seeking to avoid suspicious-activity reports on large transactions.

According to the investigation, the WhatsApp group in question was used for transactions above 5,000 euros, and most payments were higher than that. The report does not show that everyone in the group was linked to criminal proceeds. However, while hawala is illegal in much of the European Union, it can operate within a legal framework in the United Kingdom if brokers are registered with the tax authorities.

What do other European cases show?

The EBU network said similar informal money transfer mechanisms have also been used in cases involving drug trafficking and human smuggling. A former money launderer who said he had previously been involved in hawala networks in Europe and whose identity was withheld described taking part in transactions worth a total of hundreds of millions of euros. The same person said he witnessed five or six couriers carrying at least 1 million euros in just about an hour and a half in a small town near Rotterdam.

Investigations in Austria have also exposed the system’s links to violent human-smuggling networks. In a case reported by ORF, a major hawala office in Vienna was allegedly run from a kebab restaurant, and the payments were used for smuggling. Two Syrian brothers who ran the operation were sentenced last year to 18 years and 8 years in prison for torture and rape, as well as human smuggling, after a courier who said he lost 350,000 euros was attacked.

Austrian police and Europol recently dismantled another human-smuggling network financed through hawala. According to officials, the network brought about 100,000 people to Europe in 18 months. The investigations show that additional payments demanded to stop violence against those being smuggled were also requested through the same system.

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