17.04.24 – 20 arrests in clampdown against gang suspected of laundering EUR 10 million. 20 members of an intercontinental criminal network engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering have been arrested following a large-scale operation on 6 and 7 March in Spain and Portugal. The suspects laundered more than EUR 10 million using stolen identities of Colombian, Portuguese, Spanish and Venezuelan nationals. They had also created an ad hoc network of companies capable of financing the network’s activities and laundering ill-gotten profits. The crackdown was the result of a long-running investigation led by the Spanish Police and Spanish Regional Catalan Police, supported by Europol and also involving Portuguese authorities.
17.04.24 – 10 detained in large-scale raid in Germany targeting human smuggling gang that exploits visa permits. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities conducted a large-scale raid against an international human smuggling gang early Wednesday, police said in a statement. More than 1,000 police officers searched dozens of homes, stores and offices across western and southern Germany and detained 10 suspects, including two lawyers. A total of 38 suspected gang members, as well as 147 other people who allegedly paid to be smuggled by it, are being investigated, German news agency dpa reported. The two lawyers, 42 and 46 years old and from the Cologne area, are the main suspects, federal police in nearby Sankt Augustin said. The names of the suspects were not given, in line with German privacy rules.
18.04.24 – Malta key target for burglaries by ‘most threatening’ organised crime gangs. Malta is among the five countries most affected by organised criminal gangs carrying out thefts and burglaries, according to the EU’s law enforcement agency. In a recent report, Europol said 33 of the “most threatening” criminal networks specialising in burglaries and robberies mostly target Malta and four other countries, according to data from the nine reporting countries. The gangs are largely made up of Croatians, Georgians, Italians and Romanians and are mafia-like in operation, the agency said.
18.04.24 – Police take down $249-a-month global phishing service used by 2,000 hackers. Law enforcement officials in 19 countries have shut down an online platform that earned at least $1 million by selling phishing kits to cybercriminals, helping them launch attacks on tens of thousands of people worldwide. The operation, led by the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom, targeted LabHost, which officials said was set up in 2021 to make it easier for hackers to create fake websites aimed at tricking people into revealing email addresses, passwords and bank details. Thirty-seven suspects were arrested, and more than 70 locations were searched in the UK and across the world between Sunday and Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
20.04.24 – Second Ecuadoran mayor killed ahead of vote on measures against organised crime. The mayor of a mining town in violence-riddled Ecuador was shot dead Friday, the second such killing in days ahead of a weekend referendum on tougher measures against organised crime, police said. Jorge Maldonado, the mayor of Portovelo, was gunned down by two attackers on a motorcycle.
