“There is no mention in the story of terrorism or money laundering...”
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Yes, there is.
SNIPPET: “The cooperating witness represented that the monies were the proceeds of, and related to, his purported illegal activities, including drug trafficking.”
SNIPPET: “Saifullah Anjum Ranjha, age 45, a Pakistani national residing in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and to concealing terrorist financing and was sentenced to 110 months in prison.”
OK, I read it again and stand corrected. There are mentions of terrorism and drug dealing.
I don’t know how I missed those.
I guess my main point was that “hawala” (Chinese “fei chen”, Western “remittances”) per se is innocuous.
I will only note that it was the informant who brought up the drug dealing angle (saying that’s where the money came from), not the money remitters. It was the informant’s (false) cover story.