The Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, with aid from Europol, recently busted an organised crime group involved in money laundering for major South American cartels. Europol helped by facilitating information sharing and providing analytical support.
The organised crime group collected debts and laundered the proceeds of drug trafficking. The group also engaged in contract killings, and threats and violence against other criminal groups. In Spain, the group’s widespread network of ‘hitmen’ collected payments from other criminal groups that procured drugs from South American drug cartels and sold them locally. Several other people purchased luxurious items, such as expensive cars, for the group’s leaders using ill-gotten money.
So far, the authorities have made 4 arrests and charged 7 individuals and 1 company with criminal offences. They have also searched three homes Spain, seizing luxury products such as expensive cars, and arms and ammunition.
Source: Europol
