Federal agents raid metro area homes, businesses December 19, 2002
BY TAMARA AUDI AND JIM SCHAEFER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
A system used for decades by immigrants to send money back home became a target of federal antiterrorism investigators Wednesday, as agents made arrests and conducted raids in connection with $50 million wired in the last year to Yemen from Detroit and Dearborn.
The raids of four businesses and five homes and arrests of seven men were the culmination of a nine-month federal investigation of local money transfer businesses that practice Hawala -- wiring money overseas through informal channels.
The raids were part of Operation Green Quest -- a national effort led by the U.S. Customs Service focusing on choking off untraceable funds to countries that may support terrorism.
Six of the men were charged in connection with the money transfers and a seventh was arrested because his visa had expired.
U.S. Customs officials in Detroit said the investigation revealed that the businesses raided Wednesday had violated the USA Patriot Act, a law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks requiring wire money transfer companies to register with the Department of Treasury.
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Alan Jacobson