Banker for Drug Gangs, Al-Qaeda Nailed

Dubai-based banker helped shift money launder funds

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 8, 2009 4:38 AM CST

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Banker for Drug Gangs, Al-Qaeda Nailed — Detectives say Jain is one of the world's biggest money launderers, dealing with over $2 billion a year. (Getty Images)

One of al-Qaeda's favorite bankers has been busted in India after a year-long manhunt. Naresh Jain is accused of running a worldwide money laundering empire from his Dubai headquarters that handled over $2 billion a year from terrorist groups and drug traffickers, the Independent reports.

Jain, who skipped bail in Dubai last year, was known as the "Hawala King" because of his extensive use of the halawa system of informal, trust-based money transfers in the Middle East. "He operated beyond cultural barriers, money-laundering for various major criminal networks, and his arrest is hugely significant," an Indian police source tells the Telegraph.
(More Naresh Jain stories.)

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