Thousands of police officers on duty: large-scale raid during money laundering

In a major raid against money laundering and organized crime, the police searched apartments and offices in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen on Wednesday morning and carried out ten arrest warrants. More than a thousand police forces are in use, including special units, the police said in the morning. The investigations were directed against members of an international money laundering network. According to dpa information, it was mainly about the personal enrichment of the suspects. However, there is also the suspicion of terrorist financing in the room, it said in the morning from security circles.

The aim of the raids is to seize evidence and illegal assets, the police said. The public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf wanted to announce more details at a press conference in the afternoon. "The operation is still running," said a spokesman in the morning.

According to the report, a central office for the prosecution of organized crime at the Düsseldorf public prosecutor is conducting the investigations, which are directed against members of a so-called hawala network.

With hawala banking, customers can transfer large sums abroad for a commission.

Such financial transfers are only allowed in Germany with the approval of the banking supervisory authority.

80 houses, apartments, offices and business properties were searched.

The arrest warrants against ten suspects were obtained in advance and carried out on Wednesday, the statement said.

Money is said to have been used to finance terrorism

According to dpa information, the alleged money smugglers are said to have transferred more than 100 million euros from illegal transactions to Turkey and Syria.

The money is said to have come from drug trafficking and at least some of it was used to finance terrorism in Syria.

The WDR and the "Bild" newspaper had previously reported on it.

According to security circles, the starting point was a chance find by the police.

During a check on the A61, officials found 300,000 euros in cash hidden in a gym bag.

According to dpa information, it is one of the largest proceedings in recent years.

In NRW, SEK units from other federal states were also involved in the searches, with a focus on Düsseldorf and Wuppertal.

At 11.30 a.m., North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul and Justice Minister Peter Biesenbach (both CDU) want to inform about the procedure at a press conference.