UK SUPPORTS U.S. G8 CASH COURIER INITIATIVE

UNCLAS LONDON 000765

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

REF STATE 18273

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER KTFN UK
SUBJECT: UK SUPPORTS U.S. G8 CASH COURIER INITIATIVE


1. (SBU) We delivered Reftel to Peter Storr, Home Office
Lyon-Roma Head of Delegation, who indicated general UK
support for U.S. aims on tackling cash and bulk couriers in
the upcoming G8 Lyon-Roma meetings. The response in
paragraph two is from Natalie Keough, Terrorist Finance
expert, Home Office, after consulting with policy and
operational colleagues throughout the government. Keough
told us that all UK agencies are in broad agreement with
our assessment and "believe it provides a good basic
overview about terrorist use of cash couriers." We will
pass a compilation of the UK's own threat assessment which
is being carried out by the Serious Organized Crime Agency,
and is expected to be completed within a few weeks.


2. Begin text of specific UK comments on our preliminary
threat assessment:

- Page 2 background section - we would suggest adding
something along the lines of "the physical transfer of
cash is a preferred method, as it provides flexibility,
security and is cost effective."

- Page 5 conclusion - Awareness of the movement of
terrorist cash has increased significantly in recent
years.

- Couriers can use a variety of transmission methods to
move money from one area to another. For example, money
is sometimes transferred to a third party country (e.g.
via a bank or hawala) for realisation (sic) into cash
before transferring across the border.

- Cash couriers exist where the sums for transmission are
sufficient. For example, in countries where terrorist
cells require comparably less cash than others,
couriering is not an efficient option. Therefore
alternative transfer methods are used, such as hawala.

- There is potential intelligence value to be gained from
analysing (sic) flows of returned currency from
overseas, which points out the extent and presumed
destination of the various international cash flows
(legitimate commercial or remittances, grey, criminal,
and potentially terrorist). This can point law
enforcement authorities towards specific routes and
improve their targeting of cash couriers.

- The movement of cash across borders is prevalent in
countries where the electronic banking system remains
embryonic or little used. Large parts of Africa and the
Middle East have predominately cash based societies and
this lends itself to cash flows from the UK using
alternative remittance systems or by courier. Many
Islamic charities seeking to provide humanitarian aid
to cash based societies often transfer funds into
neighbouring countries and then use cash couriers to
move the funds into areas of need. The potential for
misuse of the charitable sector by terrorist
facilitators is perceived as a vulnerability within
Europe as well as the UK. End text

Tuttle