Qatar operated a funding network for arms shipments from Europe to Hezbollah using gold shipments traded through Africa, according the latest revelations on the country's relationship with the militia.
The Austrian-based think tank Mena-Watch published details on Tuesday of high-ranking Qatari officials who coordinated the payments and offered protection for Doha-based Hezbollah financiers. The post from the think tank drew on a dossier compiled by the agent known as Jason who worked undercover in the country.
It named leading officials including Dhalan Al Hamad, who in 2015 was made vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and is Qatar Athletics President.
“General Dhalan Al Hamad, a member of the royal family in Qatar, used gold from Uganda to fund this arms trade,” the dossier states.
The arms-for-gold ring was an elaborate scheme in 2017 to buy weaponry in Serbia and shift the weapons through a network of ex-intelligence officials from North Macedonia. The arms were labelled as building materials and badged as local steel goods. The Balkan middlemen worked with Qatar-based clients to ensure the guns were moved first to the Greek port of Thessaloniki and on to Beirut where the militia dominated the port.
The North Macedonian customs provided fake shipping documents under the direction of a former head of the country's secret service.
Payment to the Serbian companies was routed through Cyprus in the form of gold supplied by precious metal dealers in Uganda. The funds for the gold ultimately came from Qatar-based charitable organisations that are under the control of the country's most senior figures. The charities used the country's leading banks to make the transactions.
Support of Hezbollah is ongoing from Qatar through this year. It is understood that German intelligence has corroborated the information on Qatar's network across the three continents and beyond. German brought in a ban on Hezbollah earlier this year and carried out a series of raids on suspected operatives of the group around the country.
“With the knowledge of influential government officials, the donations were generated by charities in Doha,” according the dossier “Above all, the Qatari charities Sheikh Eid and the Education Foundation passed on 500 million dollars to Hezbollah in 2020 alone."
Mena-Watch added that Qatar's actions were not limited to supporting terrorist attacks and funding its weapons procurement. Hezbollah sent fighters from its ranks to Syria to defend the regime of President Bashar Al Assad.
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Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SUE%20GRAY'S%20FINDINGS
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What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
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