Immigrants find ways to send cash

PORTLAND – Immigrants who used a now-defunct money transfer business to support family members in Somalia say they have found other ways to deliver the much-needed cash.

Fears that a federal crackdown on two brothers accused of funneling money to al-Qaida terrorists would harm local immigrant communities have eased in recent weeks.

Liban and Mohamed Hussein, from the Dorchester section of Boston, operated the transfer business called al-Barakaat.

The Husseins are awaiting court appearances. Liban Hussein faces an extradition hearing in Ottawa, Ontario; Mohamed Hussein is being held in a county jail in Plymouth, Mass.

Al-Barakaat is one of many hawalas, which are used by African and Asian immigrants to send part of their incomes back to support relatives.

Immigrants give cash to a local agent, who subtracts a commission and calls or e-mails another agent who delivers the rest of the money almost immediately.

Immigrants say the traditional system fills a critical need, especially when trying to send money to war-torn countries such as Somalia, which has no banks or central government.

Al-Barakaat had agents and bank accounts in cities throughout the country. Federal officials have said the company transferred tens of millions of dollars a year overseas, including more than $900,000 from a KeyBank account in Portland.

Federal investigators indicted the Hussein brothers in November and shut down al-Barakaat, saying the network diverted funds from exchange fees to the terrorist organization.

The men have been charged only with operating without state licenses, however, and have denied any ties to terrorists.

Al-Barakaat was one of at least two hawalas used by Portland residents with families in Somalia and other countries. But a Portland agent for another hawala, Dahabshiil, said in November he would stop operating because he feared being targeted, too.

Immigrants here worried that their relatives overseas could face hardship if they could not send money.

Munir Ahmed says he has been able to send $100 to his mother in Somalia by getting a money order at the post office and sending it to someone who could cash it. It’s more difficult and takes much longer, he says. “The hawala is best,” he said.

Most Somali immigrants cannot send money on their own, says Ahmed Hassan, another Somali immigrant.

“You can’t just send a money order to Somalia, there’s no bank,” he said. “You can send it to someone in Kenya, a trusted person, and they can take it to Somalia.” Such transfers are far more risky than using a hawala, Hassan said.

He and others say the other hawala in Portland, Dahabshiil, is functioning again.

“That’s working for everybody,” said Ibrahim Hirsi, a Somali elder in Portland.