Samenvatting

This research takes a closer look at the criminal careers of 89 offenders who are involved in offering hawala services. The main finding is that 61% has a criminal record that does not consist of hawala related offenses. This finding is important from both a policy and criminological perspective. Firstly, incorporating hawala in the legal financial sector is a difficult prospect with the current people involved. Somehow the sector needs to be cleaned up. Secondly, the findings tie in with other research about criminal careers in organized crime. About two-thirds came into contact with the authorities later in life. However, an important caveat to the authors’ findings is that the outcomes are based on a known group of offenders. The total size of the hawala population is a dark number.