26/07 – Production of fake pesticides on the rise in the EU. Operation Silver Axe VII, coordinated by Europol, took place between 25 January and 25 April 2022 and involved law enforcement authorities from 31 countries (25 EU Member States and six third party countries). The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the European Commission’s DG SANTE, CropLife Europe and CropLife International supported the operation.
27/07- Close to a hundred arrested in Hungary over multi-million euro invoice fraud. With Europol’s support, the Hungarian authorities have cracked down on fraudsters targeting public sector companies. At a press conference today, the Anti-Economic Crime Department of the Budapest Metropolitan Police Headquarters (Budapesti Rendőr-főkapitányság Gazdasági Bűnözés Elleni Főosztály) presented the results of their latest crackdown against fraudsters, carried out with the support of Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre.
28/07- Anger grows in Haiti over weapons trafficking from U.S. after guns shipped as church donations. A string of recent arms-trafficking scandals in Haiti, including the discovery of weapons in a shipping container labeled as church donations, has ignited anger over a steady flow of U.S. guns that are fueling rampant gang violence.
28-07 – Arms trafficking from Libya to Niger is back in business. Arms and ammunition seizures by security forces in Niger’s Agadez and Tahoua regions between January 2021 and February 2022 helped dismantle trafficking networks in the country. This is positive, but what do the seizures say about the extent of the problem? Is arms trafficking from Libya to countries in the south on the rise again? After the fall of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, southward arms flows from Libya rose significantly. In 2012, this enabled Mali’s Tuareg rebels and armed groups operating in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin to acquire weapons and ammunition in a period of widespread regional turmoil.
28-07 – Balkan cartel trafficking cocaine from South America to the EU dismantled. A cross-border operation involving law enforcement authorities from Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain, and supported by Europol, led to the dismantling of a criminal organisation trafficking cocaine from South America to the EU and beyond.
