04.12.23 – Mint shop for counterfeit euro coins dismantled in Italy. On 1 December 2023, Europol supported the Italian Carabinieri Corps (Arma dei Carabinieri) in dismantling an organised crime group involved in the production and distribution of counterfeit euro coins. The European Commission’s European Technical and Scientific Centre also supported this investigation, which was coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Taranto.

05.12.23 – 10 illegal firearms workshops dismantled. Europol supported an EU-wide investigation, led by the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil), into the illegal manufacturing of firearms. The operational activities, initiated in Spain, involved law enforcement authorities from Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

06.12.23 – 10 arrested for abusing Venezuelan victims in Greece. An investigation led by the Hellenic police (Ellinikí Astynomía), supported by Europol, has led to the dismantling of a criminal network involved in the trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation. The operation involved Spain (Policía Nacional) and the USA (Homeland Security Investigations) and managed to tear down the criminal group, which had been active since 2014.

08.12.23 – EUR 5.5 million frozen in anti-corruption investigations across Europe. The Central Anti-Corruption Office within the French National Police (OCLCIFF Police Nationale), has coordinated several long-running operational actions, supported by Europol, which targeted forms of corruption at all levels. The operational activities were implemented under the EMPACT framework. This setup further increased cooperation between the specialised units of the participating countries, as well as the exchange of information on anti-corruption investigations. In November 2023, a number of actions were implemented by authorities from Albania, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands and Portugal.

08.12.23 – Gang jailed for drugs smuggling through the UK and Ireland. Four men who smuggled drugs from the Netherlands to the UK and Ireland have been sentenced to a total of more than 53 years in prison after a National Crime Agency investigation. Anthony Terry, 49, from Wolverhampton, was head of the organised crime group, orchestrating an importation of £1.6 million of cocaine from the Netherlands to England, and then across by ferry to Northern Ireland. NCA officers seized the drugs, which had been hidden in fuel tanks transported within a van, when it arrived at Belfast port in February 2021. At the same time Terry was under surveillance in Wolverhampton, and he was arrested the same day.