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Malaga
Tuesday, 15 October 2024, 13:09
National Police officers have arrested 40 people after smashing an alleged money-laundering ring in Malaga province.
The criminal network had allegedly created a banking network with the aim of laundering money made from three lines of fraudulent business, involving telematic fraud, drug trafficking (marijuana) and selling nitrous oxide (laughing gas).
Some 65 people were involved in the network, many used as banking mules, while 260 fraudulent bank accounts were opened, and another 210 in online gambling houses. More than 2.5 million euros was circulated between the accounts, according to investigators.
Police arrested 43 people, including the ringleaders of the organisation, with most of them of Bulgarian origin. Police also seized 112 kilograms of marijuana buds prepared for distribution in Ireland, Germany and Poland and intercepted some 4,792 bottles of nitrous oxide from Bulgaria. The case is now before the courts, with six people investigated in prison without bail.
Investigators said the criminal network's scams involved the buying and selling of clothes on second-hand Internet platforms, false rentals of houses or fraudulent calls on supposed power cuts, among others. Some 41 victims were identified, with a total of 39,000 euros swindled. Following the investigations, police also confirmed the network was set up by opening accounts in banks and online gambling houses, in the name of third parties (bank mules).
The bank accounts were used and controlled directly by the masterminds of the organisation, channelling the proceeds of the crimes and allowing the money to flow quickly from one bank account to another, to be reinvested in sports betting shops and injected into accounts abroad, especially in Bulgaria, where 267,718 euros were sent.
The investigation also led to the identification of drug trafficking as another of the group's ways to make money with police seizing 112 kilograms of marijuana buds ready for distribution in Ireland, Germany and Poland were seized. Investigators discovered the marijuana in three different locations; in one of them, 34 kilos of the drug was hidden in boxes containing electrical materials.
The organisation's third line of business was importing huge consignments of nitrous oxide, known as laughing gas, from Bulgaria to then sell in Spain. Investigators found three shipments of nitrous oxide had been imported and intercepted one of them, where 4,792 bottles were discovered.
The three shipments reportedly totalled 13,000 kilograms of the substance, which is a fashionable drug in Europe, cheap and popular among young people. Usage can have serious health consequences.
In the case of the main defendants, police uncovered various operations constituting money laundering in the acquisition of real estate. Authorities have claimed two homes and several storage rooms and car parks belonging to the main suspects, and have blocked 284 bank accounts and a further 210 gambling accounts opened in betting shops.
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