Currency exchange dealers involved in illegal practices arrested

The Army Command – Directorate of Orientation issued the following statement:

Through follow-up to financing of terrorism cases, the Directorate of Intelligence arrested a Syrian national living in Lebanon from a long period of time and working illegally in the field of money transfer. The suspect sent remittances outside of the country for the sake of a terrorist. Through his confessions concerning the illegal ways he uses to transfer money, the Intelligence Directorate managed to determine the identity of a group of individuals involved in the illegal practices of money transfer and currency exchange under the guise of legal offices through the use of an unlicensed electronic platform owned by el-Barakat money transfer company. After identifying the said individuals and their locations through an accurate qualitative operation, a military unit of the Directorate of Intelligence conducted a series of simultaneous raids in 12 different Lebanese regions. The operation resulted in the arrest of 13 Syrian nationals and 3 Lebanese citizens. Computer devices, mobile phones used in the transfer process and large sums of cash money were confiscated during the raids.

Investigation is ongoing with the suspects and work is underway to arrest the remaining perpetrators.