19.08.24 – Euro forger who produced EUR 11 million in fake bills arrested in Italy. On an action day conducted in Naples, Italy, on 14 August 2024, the Italian Carabinieri arrested a notorious money forger, dismantled his sophisticated counterfeiting print shop and seized nearly EUR 3 million in high-quality counterfeit banknotes. Collaborating closely with the French National Police, experts from the respective anti-currency counterfeiting units tracked down the criminal believed to be responsible for selling millions of euros worth of forged banknotes. Europol supported this investigation, which started in 2022 and has since seen the intelligence contributions from at least 10 countries reporting seizures of the same type of faked euro bills.
19.08.24 – Man arrested as part of investigation into nationwide thefts by Eastern European Organised Crime Gang. A man has been arrested as part of an investigation into multiple thefts nationwide by an Eastern European Organised Crime Gang. Gardaí attached to the Clare/Tipperary Division investigating the nationwide retail thefts today arrested a man in his 40s. The investigation relates to multiple thefts from retail outlets between July 2020 and February 2024 by an Eastern European Organised Crime Gang. The alleged thefts primarily involve premium alcohol and spirits, with an estimated potential loss to the retailers in excess of €30,000.
21.08.24 – Meth worth nearly $6 million found in fake watermelon, celery shipments in California. Officers recently found and seized almost $6 million worth of methamphetamine in less than two weeks at the United States-Mexico border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced. Officials said the drug hauls were discovered in two separate incidents, hidden inside a shipment of celery and wrapped in packaging designed to resemble watermelons.
21.08.24 – Four High Value Targets leading migrant smuggling ring arrested in Bulgaria. On 19 August, Bulgarian law enforcement authorities arrested eight suspected members of a gang involved in smuggling migrants into Europe. Four of the suspects arrested during the action day had already been identified as High Value Targets who played a leading role in the criminal activities. The gang charged up to EUR 6 000 per person and smuggled more than 130 people from Turkey into Bulgaria and then on to other European destinations via the Western Balkan route. A total of 15 locations were raided in the region of the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, with Europol experts as well as Romanian and Moldovan police officers deployed on the ground to support the Bulgarian authorities in their enforcement measures. As a result of these searches, law enforcement authorities seized 13 mobile phones, a weapon and ammunition, and documents for vehicles related to migrant smuggling incidents in Bulgaria. This action was carried out in the framework of a Europol-coordinated regional Operational Taskforce based in Sofia, which focuses on criminal networks smuggling migrants from Türkiye across Bulgaria towards Western Europe.
22.08.24 – Guatemalan police arrest 7 accused of trafficking the 53 migrants who asphyxiated in Texas in 2022. Guatemalan police on Wednesday arrested seven Guatemalans accused of having smuggled 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America who died of asphyxiation in 2022 in Texas after being abandoned in a tractor trailer in the scorching summer heat. They were the latest arrests after years of investigation into the deadliest tragedy of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico. The dead included eight children.
