Hamas, Jihad laundering route busted
Customs Authority seizes containers belonging to company used to fund terror groups
The Israel Customs Authority seized 31 containers at the Ashdod Port on Sunday after receiving pinpoint intelligence that they are destined to Gaza businessmen who fund terror organizations.
According to the Shin Bet, the seized goods, worth millions of dollars, were destined to Gaza brothers Hamis and Fayez Abu Aker, who own a company that launders money to fund Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signed a decree banning the company owned by the Abu Akers from operating in Israel and the occupied territories and giving the IDF and Shin Bet the green light to confiscate the company’s assets.
The company owned by the brothers has been banned in the past, but the latest investigation revealed that the Abu Akerss are using other companies, Rio and Hani Saadalah Shaldan, to ship goods into Gaza through Israel.
The investigation into the business affairs of the brothers revealed that they used their business to cover cash transfers on behalf of Hamas and other terror groups. Hamas and Jihad officials abroad paid for the goods purchased by the brothers, who in turn paid terrorists in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
