a European operation led by Civil Guard Spanish, In collaboration with authorities in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Ireland, a International money laundering network associated with the Irish Kinahan Organized Crime Group, said he had set up a structure of several companies, one of which was based in Gibraltar.
According to Europol, which supports the operation from its headquarters in The Hague, there are a total of four detainees: three in Spain and one in the UK, and over the year and a half of the investigation, the suspects are believed to have laundered more than 200m euros using “Hawala”, an unofficial money transfer method.
One of those detained is considered “one of Europe’s largest money launderers”. “high value target” for Europol, that is, a suspect involved in many high-profile criminal cases across Europe. He was arrested last Monday in Malaga, where 11 house searches were conducted in both countries.
Earlier in April, the ringleader of this network was chosen by the United States for its ties to the Kinahan clan, one of the most persecuted criminal groups in the world.
Based in Spain, the prime suspect and his associates were tasked with collecting large amounts of cash from criminal organizations and then “delivering” them to other criminal organizations in other countries. European agency adds.
Members of a criminal organization based in Spain To hide the source of their earnings, they had created a brand of vodka that was promoted in discos and restaurants on the Costa del Sol.
At the same time, they had set up a company in the United Kingdom, affiliated with another Gibraltar-based company, to hide the true identity of the executives of the companies used to launder their illegal proceeds.
“One of the suspects detained he ran a car dealership and was responsible for supplying vehicles to the criminal organization where he built secret compartments to transport large sums of money. not detected,” Europol added.
The Civil Guard began its investigation early last year after a series of operations led to the seizure of 200 kilos of cocaine and 500,000 euros in cash, hidden in cars equipped with secret compartments belonging to the network.
Europol calls this investigation “complicated” and lists it as requiring the cooperation of the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the Dutch National Police and Ireland’s Garda.