17/11/20

EUROPE: EUR 4 million seized in large money-laundering bust in France.

As published on thepaypers.com, Monday 16 November, 2020.

An 18-month investigation led by the French National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale) and supported by Europol put an end to a large money-laundering network.

Several raids carried out since 2019 resulted in the arrest of 18 suspects and the seizure of EUR 4 million worth of assets. The criminal network is believed to have been involved in money laundering to the value of EUR 90 million a year, according to the official press release.

The highly structured criminal organisation collected money in France and Spain originating from drug trafficking. Dirty money was transported across borders from France to Morocco and via Spain by concealing it in transportation trucks and vehicles.

Overall investigators seized EUR 2.5 million in cash, three apartments, three trucks, six vehicles and several bank accounts, 37kg of cannabis and 5kg of cocaine, and two shotguns and one automatic pistol.

In 2018, investigators in Lyon detected a structured criminal network involved in an important collection of cash generated by narcotic dealers known to law enforcement.

EFECC Operations is Europol’s initiative in the fight against economic and financial crime. It is an operational platform to support Member States in ongoing cases in the areas of tax crime (MTIC and excise), fraud, corruption, money laundering, asset recovery, euro counterfeiting and intellectual property crime. EFECC Operations was established in June 2020 to provide EU Member States with a pan-European platform to integrate and analyse dedicated economic and financial crime data.