A large-scale operation against the financing of international terrorism has led to the arrest of nine people and the seizure of assets worth over eight million euros.
The measures were carried out by DIGOS officers from Genoa, in coordination with the Central Directorate of Prevention Police, together with the Economic and Financial Police Unit and the Special Currency Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza.
The precautionary measures—personal and real—were ordered by the preliminary investigations judge of the Court of Genoa, at the request of the District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate (DDA). In addition to the nine suspects arrested, the measure also concerns three associations deemed instrumental in the fundraising and transfer system.
According to the prosecution's hypothesis, the suspects were members of and financed Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, “Islamic Resistance Movement”), an organization designated as terrorist by the European Union for both its political and military wings.
The charges were brought, during the preliminary investigation, on the basis of conspiracy to commit terrorism (Article 270 bis of the Criminal Code).
The investigation, initiated and coordinated by the Genoa DDA at the instigation of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate , stems from the analysis of reports of suspicious financial transactions and was developed thanks to close investigative cooperation with other Italian judicial offices and with the authorities of the Netherlands and other European Union states, including in the context of meetings organized by Eurojust.
Investigators are alleging financing transactions amounting to approximately seven million euros, deemed crucial to supporting the terrorist organization's activities. The transfers were also allegedly carried out through complex triangulations, via wire transfers and foreign channels, using formally charitable organizations based in Italy and abroad.
The funds, according to the prosecution, would have flowed to associations active in Gaza, the Palestinian Territories or Israel , declared illegal by the State of Israel because they were linked to or controlled by Hamas, or directly to members of the movement, including Osama Alisawi, a former minister in the de facto Hamas government in Gaza.
