An international operation against money laundering coordinated between Europol, SPAK and BKH in Albania, the American DEA, the Spanish Civil Guard and the police in Belgium, the Netherlands and Bulgaria, has led to the arrest of 9 people and the seizure of 27 million euros in cryptocurrencies.
In the official statement, Europol informs that the investigative actions were a continuation of two large operations, "Gorgon" and "Whitewall", with the first one in Albania leading to the attack of the "Copja" clan from Elbasan, based in Dubai, in July. and Belgium.
"Europol has supported law enforcement authorities from six countries to bring down secret bankers who moved and laundered the proceeds of large-scale drug trafficking and other serious crimes. Building on findings from two major investigations, Operation GORGON and Operation WHITEWALL , this follow-up operation involved close cooperation between Europol's experts in serious and organized crime and financial investigations. It led to the arrest of 9 suspects and the seizure of evidence (documents, mobile phones), valuables (gold, luxury goods), 35,000 euros in cash and 27 million euros in cryptocurrencies," the Europol announcement states.
NOTICE:
In 2021, cash was seized during a house search in connection with an investigation into cocaine trafficking. Some of the five-euro notes had handwritten inscriptions that provided information about who was coordinating and facilitating the financial aspect of drug trafficking.
The Spanish Civil Guard submitted this information to Europol, which cross-checked it with data gathered from the decommissioning of the EncroChat and Sky EÇ applications. As a result, the suspect was identified as a coordinator providing undercover banking services to a criminal network based in southern Spain, which in turn was under the supervision of a network operating from Dubai. The suspect, a British citizen, was arrested on September 12, 2022.
The next step in the investigation was to analyze the data in more depth to identify individuals in contact with the suspect. This effort aimed to map the criminal network and understand the roles of its members. Close cooperation between Europol, the Spanish Civil Guard and members of the dedicated Operational Task Force established at Europol facilitated the distribution of numerous intelligence packages. Based on these findings, a day of action coordinated by Europol took place on 4 November 2024 in Malaga, Spain, with the participation of Belgian, Bulgarian, Dutch and United States law enforcement authorities.
Operation WHITEWALL was the first criminal investigation of what was to become a Europol Operational Task Force focused on underground banking. It aimed to dismantle the financial networks that provided 'crime as a service'. Mainly controlled by the United Arab Emirates and operating across the EU and beyond, these criminal service providers cater to those who need to hide the origin of large amounts of illegal income.
One of the main findings of the investigation was that a member of an Albania-based criminal network targeted during Operation GORGON was facilitating the transfer of large sums of money through cryptocurrencies. Used not only by the Albanian underworld, but also by other criminal organizations and high-value targets, this is an innovative approach to money laundering.
The dismantling of these sophisticated criminal enterprises relied on Europol's multifaceted expertise in the various areas of crime under investigation. Operations GORGON and WHITEWALL highlighted many aspects of organized crime, with shadow banking and money laundering not only functioning as financial crimes in their own right, but also as services to those involved in drug trafficking, murder for hire and trafficking of weapons, to name just a few of the crimes in which the networks are involved.
In the wake of these long-term investigations, some of which are still ongoing, Europol has distributed numerous intelligence and analytical reports to cooperating partners, as well as numerous operational meetings held at the Agency's headquarters in the Netherlands or in Spain and Albania. During the action days, Europol sent specialists and analysts to the raids, where they provided expertise in organized crime, financial crime and asset recovery. Cryptocurrency experts and cyber specialists supported operations on the ground with mobile offices as well as from Europol headquarters, offering their digital forensics and remote investigation capabilities.
Operation GORGON and Operation WHITEWALL are examples of structured data-driven case building, trust-based international partnerships and inter-departmental support provided by Europol. Cooperation with a leading stablecoin issuer and a prominent global provider of cryptocurrency assets proved to be instrumental in achieving operational successes. Their seamless integration into the investigation and commitment to stopping illegal activities enabled the efficient execution of complex operational measures. This success demonstrates the power of public-private partnerships in achieving seizures within the digital asset ecosystem. (A2 Televizion)
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