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OFAC
WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating 10 individuals that are part of a network responsible for transferring cash to Hizballah. The network utilizes couriers travelling on commercial airline flights between Lebanon, Turkiye, the UAE, and Iran to move up to hundreds of millions of dollars between jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial system for Hizballah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions. OFAC is also re-designating Hizballah for service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
GRECO
The United Kingdom has a very developed framework for preventing corruption and promoting integrity in local government, according to the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). At the same time, there are several areas in which further progress is needed. GRECO has today published an evaluation report assessing measures adopted by the UK authorities to prevent corruption and promote integrity at the subnational level of government. The report focuses on the Greater London Authority and Kent County Council, which volunteered to take part in the evaluation.
National Crime Agency
A gang of drugs couriers who were part of a plot to smuggle cannabis worth £13.8 million into the UK via Birmingham Airport have been convicted. The National Crime Agency investigated the group of 11, who were arrested by Border Force officers in August 2024 when the class B drugs were found packed into 22 suitcases. They had arrived into the UK on the same flights from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
