Record terror fund seizure
The specialist National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU) of the Met Police has announced the largest confiscation by UK officers of money intended to fund terrorism.
A total of £240,000 was legally forfeited in two court orders that will now see the money pass to central government treasury funds.
The cash was seized in August 2003 at Heathrow Airport from naturalised US citizen Abdurahman Alamoudi.
Since then, the NTFIU have uncovered a chain of connections between Alamoudi and various Middle East and Libyan-based front organisations suspected of having links with terrorism.
The NTFIU said: “This has involved forensic examination of a number of transactions and financial relationships between various accounts which the court found to be evidence that the money was not intended for legitimate use and was likely to be used to fund or support terrorist activity abroad.”
Alamoudi is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in the US, having pleaded guilty to offences relating to terrorist fundraising.
The multi-agency NTFIU has rapidly expanded in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
It brings together a wide range of police financial expertise and liaises with the finance and banking industry as well as the security services and other police units in the UK and abroad.
