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Fourteen people have been arrested in Spain and Portugal in a series of raids targeting a \u20ac1tn (\u00a3828bn) criminal, money-laundering network working with gangs across Europe.<\/p>\n
Most of the suspects, detained last month, are Russian nationals, according to EU law enforcement agency Europol.<\/p>\n
The ring mainly laundered money originating from illegal drug trafficking and charged 2-3% commission per transfer as part of “a genuine multinational money laundering company”, according to Spain’s National Police.<\/p>\n
Nine properties were raided in cities across Spain, as well as the Portuguese capital Lisbon, and more than \u20ac1m in cash and cryptocurrencies were seized.<\/p>\n
The gang operated in cities across Spain with each office processing as much as \u20ac300,000 a day for Albanian, Serbian, Armenian, Chinese, Ukrainian and Colombian mafias based within the EU and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The investigation began in 2023 when police noticed that several known members of the Russian mafia were systematically transferring money belonging to foreign nationals in and out of Spain on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
Europol said the scheme used the “Hawala” method which involves customers in one location approaching a broker who then contacts a colleague in another location who transfers the desired amount to the recipient.<\/p>\n
This allowed gangs to transfer money across countries without moving it either physically or digitally between bank accounts.<\/p>\n
The gang also looked into expanding its business to Cuba with the aim of installing solar panels to provide energy to the Cuban government in exchange for minerals.<\/p>\n
During phone-calls with Cuban officials, gang members claimed to have close links to Spanish political leaders.<\/p>\n
Each of the raided properties in Madrid, M\u00e1laga, Marbella, Torremolinos, Co\u00edn, Ayamonte and Lisbon contained a high-security safe and a money-counting machine stored in a sound-proof cabinet used to obscure the recognisable noise of the money counters.<\/p>\n
Gang members avoided detection by regularly changing location and vehicles and using encrypted mobile phones.<\/p>\n
The phones were linked in such a way that should a member of the group be arrested, the mobile phones of the entire ring would be simultaneously locked down.<\/p>\n
Police say the three ringleaders remain in custody and say other arrests are possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n