18.01.24 – Convicted – the east London money launderer who took payments for small boats crossings. A man who laundered money for people smuggling networks involved in small boats crossings has been found guilty, following a National Crime Agency investigation. Iranian Asghar Gheshalghian, 48, ran an unregistered money services business from an office block in Wood Green, as part of a network of bankers transferring money using the hawala system. He acted as a trusted middleman, accepting payments from migrants or their families, and then releasing money to the criminal gangs following the completion of their journeys to the UK, charging a commission at the same time.
18.01.24 – Organized crime prosecutor in Ecuador’s Guayas killed-AG’s office. Ecuadorean prosecutor Cesar Suarez, who focused on pursuing organized trans-national crime in Guayas province, one of the country’s most violent areas and the site of an on-air attack on a television station last week, has been killed, the attorney general said on Wednesday. Suarez, who had been placed in charge of investigating the television station attack, was traveling to a court hearing when he was killed, the council of the judiciary said in a statement condemning the attack. The killing had the hallmarks of an assassination, police said in a statement, adding that the victim sustained a number of gunshot wounds.
18.01.24 – Year-long blitz on Bradford estate gangs sees more than 200 arrests. A blitz targeting organised crime groups and street gangs on a Bradford housing estate has led to more than 200 arrests. The year-long crackdown on Holme Wood which began in November 2022 led to dozens of arrests over drugs and other offences including arson and theft. During the 12 months, police received 1,608 intelligence submissions about potential criminality in the area. A report said West Yorkshire Police were probing 64 crimes as a result.
19.01.24 – Argentina arrests, deports relatives of fugitive Ecuador gang leader Fito. Argentine authorities detained the wife and children of fugitive Ecuadorean drug trafficker Jose Adolfo Macias and deported them early on Friday to Ecuador, authorities said. Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told a press conference that authorities detained eight people – including other associates of Macias – who arrived in Argentina on Jan. 5 and moved into a home in the province of Cordoba that they had purchased in November.
