Spanish police have detained a 38-year-old Chinese national who owned a hair salon near Barcelona on suspicion of financing the militant group Hamas through about €600,000 (US$715,000) in cryptocurrency transfers, regional police said on Friday.
Investigators traced at least 31 crypto transactions from virtual wallets controlled by the suspect to addresses that are suspected of being linked to an entity used by the Islamist group, whose attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, triggered a two-year war in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by the 27-member European Union and other Western nations.
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Police declined to comment on the suspect’s possible motives and on whether he had interacted knowingly with Hamas or was just an intermediary, citing the sensitivity of the investigation.
During searches of the suspect’s hair salon and home, officers seized cryptoassets, cash, some 9,000 cigars, jewellery, computers and mobile phones, the police said.
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They also froze several bank accounts, with the total value of seized and blocked assets exceeding €370,000.
