News Brief – Week of 24 April 2023

25.04.23 – 90 victims of sexual exploitation identified. An operation involving Czech, Finnish and Hungarian authorities, and coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, has led to the identification of more than 90 victims of sexual exploitation. 13 members of a criminal network are under suspicion of recruiting – primarily Czech – victims and transporting them to…

News Brief – Week of 17 April 2023

17.04.23 – Italy: Police seize 2 tons of cocaine floating off Sicily. Italian authorities have seized almost two tons (2,000 kilograms) of cocaine off the coast of Sicily, officials said Monday. The haul has a street value of about €400 million ($440 million). The drugs were stored in about 70 waterproof packages and carefully sealed,…

News Brief – Week of 10 April 2023

13.04.23 – Three charged over online banking scam. Three men have been charged with fraud offences as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into a website which enabled criminals to subvert banking anti-fraud measures. NCA cybercrime investigators began probing the paid for subscription website www.OTP.Agency in June 2020. The site provided a service to…

News Brief – Week of 3 April 2023

03.04.23 – Money laundering couple caught smuggling criminal cash during lockdown. A husband and wife from Hertfordshire who tried to smuggle more than £200,000 out of the UK during the height of the Covid lockdown have been convicted of money laundering. Ardian Sharra, aged 51, and Valbona Laloshi, aged 41, from Tring were investigated by…

News Brief – Week of 27 March 2023

27.03.23 – Female Mexican drug Cartel assassins fight in new organised crime phenomenon. Female gangsters are the newest organised crime “phenomenon” gripping Mexico as women assassins are completing hits for drug cartels. Officials in the northern Mexican state of Zacatecas have noticed more and more women becoming embroiled in the shady world of Mexican drug…

News Brief – Week of 20 February 2023

20.02.23 – Traffickers smuggling tobacco from Belarus busted in Poland. Europol supported the Polish Border Guard (Straż Graniczna), the Police Central Bureau of Investigation (Centralne Biuro Śledcze Policji) and the National Revenue Administration (Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa) in disrupting tobacco smugglers and seizing large amounts of cash and valuables. The criminals were initially under investigation for…