Police are investigating a British Muslim charity after more than £40,000 cash was seized at Dover.
It’s thought that Muslim men who were heading for the Middle East were travelling on behalf of “Aid Convoy,” a charity which says it provides humanitarian and medical aid to people of the border areas of Lebanon and Syria.
Kent Police said it was investigating whether the money was being taken out of the country for illegal purposes.
A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said that it was assessing Aid Convoy as part of an “ongoing operational compliance case.”
The Aid Convoy website states: “We are embarking on a number of projects working on the Turkish-Syria & Lebanese-Syria borders. We will be working with our partners and we will also be present.”
It also has a warning that “there are people/groups miss-using our charity name”.
A YouTube video posted on its site details how the charity has spent £125,000 including £81,000 on medication, £20,000 on vehicles and £15,000 on refugee camps.
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“We were one of the first organisations to assist the Syrian refugees & the Syrian people. We were able to deliver essential aid via our partner in Turkey (IHH) & have since then delivered medicines inside Syria with our volunteers reaching areas such as Idlib & Dana. Our work is still continuing with supplying medical aid from the Turkish & Lebanese side of the border,” the website states.
Although there is no suggestion yet that Aid Convoy is involved in anything illegal the British authorities are concerned that funds are making their way from Britain to rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al Assad.
