Anna Karolina Eriksson/TT
In addition to the usual exchange business, they ran an extensive illegal business that turned over more than a hundred million worth of money from drug crimes.
Now three people are being sentenced for having conducted so-called hawala activities.
The defendants are convicted of serious money laundering and business money laundering and receive prison terms of 5 years and 10 months, 4 years and 8 months and 2 years and 6 months respectively, Malmö District Court announces in a press release.
The men were charged with having laundered money via two companies in the exchange and travel industry in Malmö. The companies have been in contact with other companies and their offices in both Sweden and abroad, and the business had a total turnover of SEK 113 million. It has involved money from drug crimes that has been laundered.
The hawala phenomenon is a way of transferring money without actually moving it. When a person in an office needed to transfer money, he was able to deposit money in one place, to be handed over to a recipient in another office, without any actual transactions being made.
The police tracked them down through the messaging service Encrochat, which was cracked by Europol and French police in 2020. The evidence against the trio consisted of messages and the contents of a USB stick, the court said.
A fourth person was charged, but has been acquitted as it is not considered proven that he was aware of the criminal scheme.
Hawala, a system of sending money through informal offices, is illegal in several countries and has been singled out as a way for terrorists and criminals, among others, to move money.