The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated 10 individuals operating a cash smuggling network that moves funds to Hizballah, the militant group that U.S. authorities have designated as a terrorist organization.
The network employs couriers who travel on commercial airline flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The operation provides Hizballah an avenue outside the formal financial system to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions.
Turkish businessman Yunus Alper Yilmaz manages couriers who collect cash from exchange houses in Turkey and arrange logistics for the transfers. Other network members include couriers Halil Ibrahim Kacmaz, Onder Dede, Vasfi Akyuz, Mehmet Akyuz, Mehmet Acur, Feyyad Karasalih, Masoud Mousafar, Gulay Kaya Savci, and Emrah Ayaz.
OFAC also re-designated Hizballah as operating under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The designations block all U.S. assets held by these individuals and prohibit American citizens and entities from conducting transactions with them. Violations can result in civil or criminal penalties.