European police are shattered with cryptocurrency financed criminal network in international raid

The authorities in Europe have smashed a large-scale organized criminal association that, with the help of cryptocurrencies, has transferred illegal funds of several ten million euros for drug and human retail networks.

In the case of coordinated raids in January, 17 suspects were arrestedHowever, details have only been published by Europol and the Spanish police today. The group, which is referred to by Spanish media as a “crypto mafia bank”, is said to have washed over € 21 million ($ 23.5 million) and served criminal associations in China and the Middle East.

The investigators found that the operation was highly based on crypto-based money laundering and transfers in the Hawala style in order to disguise the financial activities. In addition, she made a financial infrastructure available to human dealers by exchanging large sums of cash against digital assets to blur the transaction traces.

As part of the raid, the authorities confiscated cryptocurrencies worth over € 180,000, almost € 700,000 in Fiat currency, four firearms, luxury goods and 18 high-quality vehicles.

This case follows general concerns regarding the crime favored by cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of this week, the blockchain company Elliptic uncovered a Chinese telegram marketplace that offered illegal financial services worth $ 8,4 billion-allegedly in connection with funds that were stolen from $ 235 million in a hack of the Indian Stock Exchange of $ 235 million.