An unregistered branch of Islamist organisation Al-Waqf Al-Islam was bust in a joint operation by prosecutors, the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security on October 6 2010, Bulgaria's Interior Ministry said.
 
District prosecutors from Blagoevgrad, Pazardjik and Smolyan were involved in the raid.
 
During the raid, conducted at homes and offices, a large amount of propaganda material preaching religious hatred and the overthrow of Bulgaria’s constitutional order was found, along with financial documents showing illegal financial transactions and violations of tax laws, according to the ministry.
 
An organisation by that name was registered in Bulgaria in 1993. It has been involved in the financing of more than 150 mosques built in Bulgaria in recent years. In 1999, its representative in Bulgaria, Abdulrahim Taha, was expelled from Bulgaria for reasons of national security. 
 
The October 6 Interior Ministry statement described the organisation that had been raided as unregistered.
 
The Eindhoeven headquarters have been the subject of monitoring by Western intelligence services. A 2002 report by the Netherlands intelligence service report alleged that Al-Waqf Al-Islam was linked to the propagation of radical Islam. The organisation describes itself as dedicated solely to charitable work.
 
The Interior Ministry statement said that the organisation was funded by circles in Saudi Arabia.
 
After the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, the US office of Al-Waqf Al-Islam was shut down because of alleged links between members of the group and those who had prepared the terrorist attacks.