European law enforcement agencies have liquidated a criminal organization headed by Ukrainian citizens. The detained suspects abused the temporary protection status granted EU to Ukrainian refugees, to provide illegal financial services to other criminal groups, the organization of police cooperation of the European Union "Europol" reported on Monday, January 27.
The police operation, which was preceded by the raids, took place in November last year. During the operation, 23 suspects were arrested, € 35.7 million in cash, bank accounts and cryptocurrency were seized, as well as 36 vehicles, real estate, luxury watches and jewelry.
According to a press release from Europol, a criminal organization run by two Ukrainian brothers provided illegal cash delivery services and clandestine banking services to other criminal networks. The network also included Chinese people who provided money laundering services. Their services were used by various post-Soviet and Asian criminal groups engaged in drug trafficking, tax evasion or smuggling of illegal goods, mainly in Spain.
Europol drew attention to the fact that many Ukrainians, fleeing the war, brought their savings to Europe in cash. The criminal network took advantage of simplified procedures that allowed money to be transferred between different jurisdictions, and moved huge amounts of money without being subjected to detailed inspection during customs checks.
The cash carriers, including family members of the leaders of the criminal organization, regularly traveled between Spain, Cyprus, France and other countries and presented cash as their property. After the arrest of several cash carriers, the criminal organization changed its methods and turned to cryptocurrencies to make it difficult to track cash flows. It is estimated that at least 75 million euros were transferred between March 2023 and February 2024. During the raids in Cyprus, the authorities seized and froze cryptocurrencies worth about € 26 million.
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