ISIS receives money via SA - including from Joburg robberies, reports claim

A coalition of countries fighting the Islamic State has warned that South Africa is playing a key role in sending funds to ISIS branches in Central Africa.

In an update this week, the Counter ISIS Finance Group said that ISIS’s al-Karrar Office in Somalia has been routing funding through various hawalas in the region, including South Africa, to ISIS branches in Central Africa. ISIS's Central Africa Province comprises branches in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. 

A hawala is an informal method of transferring money between two countries. There is no physical transfer of funds between sender and receiver. Brokers or hawaladars in one country will ask a broker in another country to release funds without the transaction ever entering the formal financial system.