Illustration by Mathieu Larone
Finance
Germany Targets Centuries-Old Payment System to Stem Dirty Money
The country is cracking down on hawala, which it says is being abused by money launderers and financiers of Islamist terrorism.
When customs officers apprehended a truck driver at a Bavarian rest stop, they found two plastic bags filled with hundreds of thousands of euros in bank notes.
The driver said the money was destined for victims of an earthquake in Turkey and that he was told to hand it over at that country’s border. He didn’t know the men who gave him €10,000 ($11,000) for gas and food, or why they paid him such an amount for a trip that only takes a few days.