06.12.24 – International operation against ‘phone phishing’ gang in Belgium and the Netherlands. Europol has supported Belgian and Dutch authorities in an international operation against a ‘phone phishing’ gang that has led to the arrest of 8 suspects. On the action day, law enforcement also carried out 17 searches in different locations in Belgium and the Netherlands. Although most of the criminal activities took place in Belgium, the main perpetrators mostly operated from the Netherlands. Besides committing large-scale ‘phishing’ campaigns and trying to gain access to financial data by phone or online, the suspects also pretended to be police or banking staff and approached older victims at their doors.
05.12.24 – Catholic nun among 25 arrested in mob bust in northern Italy. A Catholic nun with the Sisters of Charity Institute in Milan was among 25 people arrested early Thursday morning for a litany of mafia-related crimes, including aiding and abetting extortion, drug trafficking, receiving stolen goods, usury, tax crimes and money laundering. Sister Anna Donelli, 57, was known among prison inmates as “Sister Collina” when she volunteered at several prisons in and around Brescia, a city in the northern region of Lombardy, where anti-mafia police said she did more than just offer blessings and comfort.
05.12.24 – Mexico: Boom in organised crime making femicide invisible, local activist says. With more than 2,526 women murdered in the past three decades – from 1993 through 2023 – and hundreds disappeared, Ciudad Juárez remains Mexico’s deadliest city for women. Local activist Norma Andrade, who was recently at the UN Office in Geneva to raise awareness about femicide, knows the issue first-hand. Her own daughter, Lilia Alejandra, was murdered in that same city in 2001.
03.12.24 – Drug cartel grind to a halt with six major arrests in Colombia. In a long-term investigation supported by Europol, law enforcement authorities from Belgium, Colombia and Spain have dismantled a drug ring orchestrating large-scale cocaine trafficking from Colombia to the EU. The national authorities involved arrested 32 individuals in total, including the leader of the network. Law enforcement also seized 5.8 tonnes of cocaine in Colombia (Cartagena and Baranquilla) and on European soil in Spain (Barcelona and Valencia) and Belgium (Antwerp). The sting was coordinated by Europol’s Operational Taskforce.
03.12.24 – International operation takes down another encrypted messaging service used by criminals. Authorities are staying on top of the encrypted messaging services that criminals use to undertake their activities. A joint investigation team (JIT) involving French and Dutch authorities has taken down another sophisticated encrypted messaging service, MATRIX. For three months, authorities were able to monitor the messages from possible criminals, which will now be used to support other investigations. During a coordinated operation supported by Eurojust and Europol, the messaging service was taken down by Dutch and French authorities and follow-up actions were executed by their Italian, Lithuanian and Spanish counterparts.
