WhatsApp Group Enabled Hundreds of Millions in Cash Transfers for Crime and Terrorism
Investigators uncovered a 532-member WhatsApp group, "Traders of Greater Europe," that used the hawala system to move large cash sums across borders, financing organized crime, drug trafficking and IS militants.
A European investigative network obtained a cache of WhatsApp messages from a 532-member group called "Traders of Greater Europe," revealing a sprawling hawala network that moved cash amounts far exceeding €5,000. The chat, active from February to December 2022, coordinated transfers to British cities such as Birmingham and London and even to Islamic State militants in Syria. Belgian investigating magistrate Vincent Guerra uncovered the group after a 2024 court case convicted six money-launderers, including network leader Abu Adam and his deputy Abu Ahmed.
Photographs of thousands of €5 notes and identity cards suggested at least 12,000 individual transactions. Former participant identified only as Frank described moving several hundred million euros and linking the system to drug trafficking, prostitution and human-smuggling operations. Austrian investigations highlighted a kebab-restaurant-based hawala office used for people smuggling, while Europol officials called hawala the primary money-laundering channel for organized crime across Europe.
Why it matters
It reveals how untraceable cash networks can fund terrorism and transnational crime, challenging law-enforcement oversight.
In this story
