Spanish police arrest Chinese hair salon owner accused of financing Hamas

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 euros ($714,960) 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. 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. They also froze several ⁠bank accounts, with the total value of seized and blocked assets exceeding 370,000 euros.

Their investigation began last June during a separate ⁠probe into fraud and money laundering, police said. Authorities have warned in recent years ⁠that militant ‌groups are using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders, complicating efforts to track and disrupt terrorism financing. ($1 = 0.8392 ⁠euros)