PET, the Danish intelligence service, suspects money donated by Danish humanitarian organisations to relief assistance may in fact be used to support terrorist groups.
According to a memo, which Radio24syv has in its possession, PET believes some small private collections (mostly less than 50,000 kroner) may be helping to finance terrorist activities.
However, the intelligence service did not want to confirm the information.
On its website, PET states: “It can be a challenge for the authorities to prove the money transactions are going directly to terrorism, partly because the terrorist networks often use multiple and sometimes informal intermediaries in the transactions.”
Problem in all Western countries
According to a Swedish expert on terrorism, Magnus Ranstorp, it can be difficult to track how humanitarian contributions end up being used – a problem observed in many Western countries.
Since the summer of 2014, individuals and Danish fundraising organisations are required to report their collections to Indsamlingsnævnet, the Danish fundraising board.
However, Christian Lundblad, the head of the board, believes “it is possible to cheat every system if one wants to”.
