The group surveys started in 2023 when the border police in Spain noticed suspicious trips from their airports carrying large sums of money. Travel to Cyprus by members of the criminal group were used to make criminal benefits, which were then laundered. The authorities prevented the criminals from traveling and seized more than 1.8 million euros.
The authorities discovered that the group led a sophisticated money laundering service for other criminal organizations. The group acted as a financial service to transfer international criminal profits. Cryptocurrencies have been used to move cash benefits between criminal organizations. To eliminate cash benefits, money was transported to commercial flights, mainly in Cyprus and by public transport to neighboring countries in Spain. The group was able to perform four to six money laundering transactions per week.
The management of this financial service required a professional structured organization made up of at least 52 members, operating mainly in Spain and Cyprus. The group worked with contacts outside of their organization to ensure the connection with customers and receive the money to be laundered. Their contacts are linked to several commercial companies around the world.
As the financial service was used throughout Europeles authorities had to work together to arrest the criminal group. An international survey was launched by creating a joint investigation team (JIT) to Eurojust between the Spanish, Cypriot and German, Eurojust and Europol authorities. Thanks to the JIT, the information from the tax and judicial authorities was exchanged which led to the withdrawal of the criminal group. Europol supported this international operation with experts specializing in financial crime, the fight against high-risk criminal networks, the detangling of money laundering structures and the tracing of cryptocurrency flows.
A series of actions was carried out to stop the financial service. In October 2024, actions were carried out in Spain, France and Cyprus to dismantle the criminal group. This was followed by actions in November 2024 which targeted the actors working with the criminal group. A total of 91 searches were made, 77 in Spain, 1 in France and 13 in Cyprus. Twenty suspects were arrested in Spain, one in France and two in Slovenia. The authorities seized a total of 8 million euros in cash, 2 million bank accounts and frozen 27 million euros in cryptocurrency. The group surveys and its financial service continue.
The following authorities were involved in the actions:
Spain: investigate judge No. 2 of El Prat de Llobregat; Continuation of the prosecution of Barcelona; Guardia Civil Special Central Unit 3, destabilizing the Cyprus-Uco-Uco-UCOP: Prosecutor General’s office; Mokas (Unit against money laundering); Department of Criminal Investigations (CID) (in collaboration with other police services) Germany: prosecutor’s office, Landshut; Office of inquiry on customs, München France: Marseille judicial court, interregional specialized competence against organized crime (Jirs); National Anti-Fraude Office (ONAF), Marseille / Nice.
Originally published in The European Times.
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