The storm over first-cousin marriage deepened last night after experts linked it to terrorist financing, money laundering and people trafficking.
Tories called for the marriages to be banned after The Mail on Sunday revealed last month that NHS guidance promotes their ‘benefits’ despite an associated increase in birth defects.
The marriages are also connected to unregulated, untraceable ‘hawala’ financing – a way of transferring money worldwide that depends on family ties and doesn’t leave a paper trace.
