
294 Money Laundering: A Guide for Criminal Investigators, Third Edition
Case Example
Ahmed and Omar are big believers in the hawala sys-
tem, which has worked well for people in their region for
centuries. People in Pakistan didn’t always need to send
money to New York or vice versa, but in the modern world
you have to change with the times. See Figure24.11.
Today, Ahmed, an al Qaeda operative in Karachi,
wants to send $20,000 to Omar, a member of a terror
cell in New York City. Ahmed has a couple of problems
with using banks or Western Union for this transaction.
First, both are likely to ask questions about the cash deal,
especia