Could terrorists be laundering criminal funds through bureaux de change?
Tim Maby has been finding out for PM. A small frisson of panic seems to have rippled through Whitehall, as civil servants attempt to catch up with the financial war on terrorism. On Monday, the Treasury revealed that bureaux de change were the main way for criminals and terrorists to launder illegal money. In off-the-record briefings, reporters were told that nearly two-thirds of the 3-4bn a year of illegal money that leaves the country each year was leaving by this route. In fact they estimate the total value of the cocaine and heroin market in Britain to be 3-4 billion a year, of which 1m is thought to pass through unregulated bureaux de change. Self regulation Well-known companies, like American Express and Thomas Cook, do however claim to regulate themselves. Thomas Cook claims to follow the same government guidelines as the banks: training its staff to look out for, and report, any suspicious transactions to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. And there was a significant i
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