More joy to an already joyous few days

Western Union blocks cash transfers for guys named Ahmed, Mohammed. Representatives of Western Union say their transfer agencies have stalled or halted thousands of cash deliveries over terrorist concerns because the sender or receiver has an "Arab-sounding" name. Snip from AP story:

...Pakistani Qadir Khan said Western Union blocked his attempt this month to wire money to his brother Mohammed for a cataract operation. "Every Mohammed is a terrorist now?" Khan asked.

Dubai-based representatives from Western Union Financial Services, an American company based in Colorado, and Minnesota-based MoneyGram International said their clerks are simply following U.S. Treasury Department guidelines that scrutinize cash flows for terrorist links. Most of the flagged transactions are delayed a few hours. Some are blocked entirely.

In many cases, would-be customers like Maruthayil simply find another way to send the funds — often through informal exchanges with less stringent monitoring.