Dutch police arrested a father and his daughter on Thursday on suspicion of sending more than €5 million to Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement on the European Union’s list of terror organizations.
The pair, aged 55 and 25, were arrested at a property in the town of Leidschendam, while a search of an affiliated business in Rotterdam resulted in the seizure of a bank account holding around €750,000, the public prosecutor revealed.
“The public prosecution service suspects them of having sent money, approximately €5.5 million, to groups related to the organization Hamas,” the prosecution service said in a statement.
“They are also suspected of participating in a criminal organization whose purpose is to support Hamas financially,” it added.
The pair remain in custody, and an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
Founded by Muslim Brotherhood activists in 1987, Hamas has risen to become one of Palestine’s two mainstream political parties, but its militant wing has become infamous for its attacks on what the organization perceives to be the illegal Israeli occupation of its former land.
The organization was added to the EU list of proscribed terrorist organizations following the 9/11 terror attacks, and while it was temporarily removed in 2014, it was reinstated in 2017.