Category: Poland

Auto Added by WPeMatico

Posted on

Eurojust supports major operation against Albanian drug-trafficking ring in Italy: 66 arrests

Source: Eurojust

26 September 2024|

A large-scale cocaine-smuggling ring was dismantled by authorities in Italy, Albania, Poland and Switzerland, coordinated by Eurojust. During an action day, a total of 45 suspects were arrested, most of them in Italy. Prior to the action day, 21 suspects involved in the sale of cocaine in and around the city of Brescia were arrested. In total, 66 arrests were made. The Albanian-led organised crime group (OCG) had been selling cocaine from Latin America for at least four years, mainly in the north of Italy.

Eurojust set up a coordination centre this week to support and coordinate the actions of all authorities involved. During the investigations and the action day, for an estimated amount of EUR 4 million in cash was seized, as well as 360 kilograms of cocaine, luxury vehicles and watches, telecommunications equipment, arms and ammunition.

Investigations into the drug-smuggling network started in 2020 at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) of Brescia. The OCG used five warehouses and storage centres in and around Brescia to distribute the cocaine.

Credits: Guardia di Finanza di Brecia 

The suspects laundered their illegal profits via an extensive network of enterprises run by an Italian-Chinese organisation set up for this purpose, which supplied fake invoices with a total value of around EUR 375 million. The OCG members will be charged with the trafficking of illicit drugs, money laundering and investment fraud.

During this week’s action day, over 400 officers were deployed across Italy. To assist the authorities on the ground, Eurojust set up a coordination centre at its premises in The Hague and supported the execution of European Arrest Warrants and requests for Mutual Legal Assistance towards Albania and Switzerland. Europol facilitated the exchange of information between the involved countries and provided operational coordination as well as analytical support. On the action day, a Europol analyst with a mobile office was deployed to cross-check information on the spot in Italy.

The operations were carried out at the request of the PPO of Brescia via the following authorities:

  • Italy: PPO Brescia; Anti-Mafia District Directorate of the Guardia di Finanza – Provincial Command of Brescia; Central Investigation Service for Organised Crime (SCICO), Rome; International Police Cooperation Service Liaison Bureau, Tirana
  • Poland: PPO Warsaw; Central Police Bureau of Investigations
  • Albania: Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK); Albanian State Police
  • Switzerland: Office of Attorney-General; Federal Police (Fedpol)
Posted on

Three Belarusian nationals charged for forcing Polish plane to land to arrest dissident

Source: Eurojust

Belarusian air traffic controllers forced the aircraft to divert from its route to Vilnius by providing false information about an alleged explosive device, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Minsk airport. After the aircraft landed in Minsk, the passengers were evacuated and their luggage was searched.

During the evacuation, two passengers, a Belarusian dissident and his companion, were arrested by officials. Investigations into the incident revealed that these arrests were the real reason the flight was diverted to Minsk.

Immediately after the incident, investigations were launched by the Polish and Lithuanian authorities. With the support of Eurojust, a joint investigation team (JIT) team was set up, which interviewed a number of witnesses, including passengers and the crew of the aircraft, and secured recordings and photographs taken during the incident.

The unprecedented nature of the case called for very close cooperation between multiple countries. Eurojust organised several coordination meetings and facilitated the execution of European Investigation Orders in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania to secure evidence and the requests for legal assistance in Switzerland, Norway and the United States.

Witnesses testified that air traffic controllers were informed of the false bomb threat by their superiors. The air traffic controllers were then instructed by Belarusian officials on what action to take and what information to pass on to the pilots of the aircraft.

The cooperation of the authorities led to the issuing of arrest warrants for three Belarusian nationals. The suspects are charged with unlawfully depriving 132 people of their liberty through terrorist acts and intending to seriously intimidate numerous people, including groups opposed to the Belarusian regime. Detention on remand for three months is imposed on all suspects.

The following authorities were involved in the actions:

  • Lithuania: Department for Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation at the Prosecutor General’s Office, Criminal Police Bureau
  • Poland: Mazovian Division of the Department for Organised Crime and Corruption of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office; Internal Security Agency
Posted on

Network of luxury car thieves dismantled with support of Eurojust

Source: Eurojust

A large-scale ring of luxury car thieves has been dismantled with the support of Eurojust and Europol. Using straw men and underprivileged people, the criminals hired or leased luxury vehicles, which they later registered in their own names through corrupt connections in official institutions.

The cars were resold outside the EU, including in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. In a series of recent coordinated actions in Spain, France, Germany, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine, 13 suspects were arrested for fraud, forgery and money laundering.

© – Ukrainian National Police

Through a coordination centre at Eurojust, over sixty places were also searched by national authorities. Several luxury vehicles, communication equipment and documents were seized, as well as over EUR 100 000 in cash.

The Spanish authorities launched their investigation in 2022 following reports of luxury cars going missing from legitimately operating car rental and lease companies in and around Malaga. These investigations revealed that dozens of vehicles were ultimately stolen across Europe by a network of linked criminals. They exploited around fifty vulnerable and underprivileged people by using their documents, such as driving licences and passports, to hire or lease luxury cars.

Through corrupt contacts in official institutions, they managed to register the hired vehicles on to their personal documents, so they could sell them in the European Union and beyond, including Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Some of the stolen vehicles were transported in containers to conceal the cars.

Investigations were later also started in France, Poland and Ukraine, which revealed links between different criminal groups using the same modus operandi. In March of this year, with the support and funding of Eurojust, authorities in France, Spain and Ukraine set up a joint investigation team into the car thefts. Eurojust also organised two preparatory coordination meetings to prepare for the recent action day week and set up the coordination centre.

Europol assisted the operations against the criminal network by producing criminal intelligence packages. It also provided an operational coordination centre to support the actions at police level.

Operations on the ground were carried out at the request of and by the following authorities:

  • Spain: Investigative Court no. 1, Málaga; Public Prosecutor’s Office, Málaga; Spanish National Police
  • France: Judiciary Tribunal, Grasse; National Gendarmerie, Central Office against Roving Crime (OCDLI)
  • Germany: Public Prosecutor’s Offices Essen and Osnabrück; Police Departments of Essen and Osnabrück
  • Latvia: 3rd Unit International Cooperation Department State Police
  • Poland: Public Prosecutor’s Office, Warsaw
  • Ukraine: Prosecutor General’s Office; Main Investigation Department and Department of Strategic Investigations of National Police
Posted on

Crackdown on criminal network that stole 170 historical books worth EUR 2.5 million across Europe

Source: Eurojust

Eurojust and Europol have supported the competent authorities in Lithuania, France, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland and Georgia in an international operation against an organised crime group (OCG) that allegedly stole 170 books of high historical and cultural value across several European countries. The stolen books have an estimated value of EUR 2.5 million and were written by well-known Russian novelists such as Pushkin, Gogol and Lermontov.

Eurojust assisted the authorities in coordinating the actions and in setting up and funding a joint investigation team (JIT) into the case.

The perpetrators, of Georgian origin, are believed to have committed robberies in libraries located in France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Switzerland.

The OCG used different modus operandi to steal the books. In some cases, the OCG members used fake identities when ordering books in the libraries, for example presenting themselves as researchers. While one OCG member pretended to consult with the library staff, thereby distracting security, another replaced the original valuable book with a copy.

In other cases, the perpetrators simply broke into the library and stole the books. Before committing the thefts, they visited libraries and checked out books of the same type as the ones stolen.

Eurojust has supported the case since November 2023, assisting the authorities involved in the coordination of their investigations and in the determination of legal strategies. Three coordination meetings were hosted by the Agency to bring together all judicial authorities involved, in order to facilitate their judicial cooperation, and to prepare for the joint action. The Agency also facilitated the setting up of a JIT between France, Lithuania, Poland, Georgia and Switzerland in March 2024. Europol was also a participant in the JIT.

During the action day, a coordination centre was set up at Eurojust connecting simultaneously the different teams in the field in the countries where operations were taking place. The coordination centre enabled rapid cooperation and ensured that evidence and information collected were swiftly exchanged between all national authorities involved.

The coordinated operations led to the arrest of four suspects in Georgia. A total of 27 locations were searched in Georgia and Latvia. One stolen book was recovered and many other books, which have to be examined further, were also seized. Ten witnesses were interviewed and over a hundred police officers and prosecutors were involved in the operation.

With reports of rare and historical books being stolen across Europe, Europol facilitated the information exchange between the affected countries and helped to identify the main suspects. Europol’s analysis during this case helped to create links, identify leads and even uncover a theft that had not yet been discovered. Before supporting the action day, Europol held two operational meetings in its headquarters.

The following authorities took part in this investigation:

  • Estonia: Estonian Prosecutor´s Office; Police and Border Guard Board
  • France: Court of Paris, OCBC (Central Office against Cultural Goods Trafficking)
  • Germany: Public Prosecutor’s Office Munich I, Public Prosecutor’s Office Berlin, Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (BLKA, Division 622), Berlin State Criminal Police Office
  • Latvia: International cooperation Division of the Prosecutor General’s Office; International Cooperation Department of the Central Criminal Police Department of the State Police; Criminal police bureau of the Riga Regional Department of the State Police
  • Lithuania: Vilnius Regional PPO, Vilnius County Police Headquarters
  • Poland: Circuit Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw
  • Switzerland: Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic and Canton of Geneva; Cantonal police of the Republic and Canton of Geneva
Posted on

Eurojust helps tackle massive fraud of EUR 645 million with medicinal cannabis plants across Europe

Source: Eurojust

In Germany, France and Spain alone, over 4 500 victims have lodged formal complaints against the fraudsters, who set up a crowd-funding programme to raise a minimum of EUR 50 per investor for the development of medicinal cannabis plants. In reality, no cannabis plants were ever bought, although the organisers of the scheme pretended to work with legitimate and licensed enterprises that would cultivate them. The fraud ran from at least January 2020 to July 2022.

The entire scheme had the character of a pyramid or ‘Ponzi fraud’ and promised extremely high returns on investment. Investigations in Germany and Spain, later followed by counterparts in other countries across Europe, showed that investors had been only partially paid.

Most of the invested money was used to pay affiliates, keep the scheme running and expand the fraud through extensive online campaigns. For this purpose and to launder the proceeds, a web of international enterprises was used. The scheme itself appears to have been run by a Russian criminal network, with an affiliated German-based crime group.

Victims in Germany and Spain claim to have lost at least EUR 51.5 million, but the total investment is estimated to be close to EUR 645 million. In total, around 550 000 participants worldwide were registered as online investors, most of them European citizens. Around 186 000 participants transferred funds, either via cryptocurrencies or bank transfers.

Since 2022, Eurojust has been extensively supporting the national authorities, including assisting the German, Spanish and French authorities in setting up and funding the JIT. This led to a successful Joint Action Day coordinated at Eurojust.

At the request of the German and Spanish authorities, in recent days operational actions against the criminal networks were also carried out in Estonia, Latvia, Italy, Malta, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the Dominican Republic. The French authorities made a decisive contribution to the analysis of crypto flows during the investigations and took part in searches in Germany and Spain on the action day.

Europol supported this massive cross-border investigation from the outset, taking the lead in operational coordination and providing tailored analytical support. Furthermore, Europol shared results of the financial investigations as well as other intelligence with the involved countries. On the action day, Europol deployed officers with mobile offices to various locations worldwide.

During the action days, over thirty places were also searched and for several millions of Euros in crypto assets and bank accounts were frozen. Also real estate properties, luxury vehicles, artwork, cash and various luxury items were seized, as well as large numbers of electronic devices and documents.

The operations were carried out on the ground at request of and by:

  • Germany: Public Prosecutor’s Office Berlin; Criminal Investigation Department Berlin (LKA)
  • Spain: Central Investigative Judge no. 6 at the Audiencia Nacional; National Police (Policia Nacional – UDEF Central Brigade against Economic Crime, Financial Fraud Group)
  • France: Paris’ Prosecutor’s Office JUNALCO (National Jurisdiction against Organised Crime); Gendarmerie Nationale (Research Section Rennes)
  • Estonia: Office of the Prosecutor General; Police and Border Guard Board
  • Latvia: Prosecutor General’s Office; International Cooperation Department and Economic Crime Enforcement Department of the Central Criminal Police Department of the State Police
  • Italy: Postal Police Service of the National Police – Operational Section for Cyber Security, Macerata, and Operational Centre for Cybersecurity of Marche
  • Malta: Malta Police Force – International Relations Unit
  • Poland: Public Prosecutor’s Offices of Jelenia Góra, Lublin, Warsaw, Warsaw Praga and Wrocław; Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime
  • Portugal: Central Public Prosecutor’s Office Lisbon (DCIAP); Judicial Police (Policia Judiciária)United Kingdom: National Crime Agency
  • United Kingdom: National Crime Agency
Posted on

Eurojust supports an EPPO-led operation against carousel VAT fraud for the first time

Source: Eurojust

During the searches, law enforcement seized vast quantities of smartphones, worth more than EUR 15.3 million, as well as a yacht, worth EUR 3 million, and EUR 1.2 million in cash and cryptocurrency. Several luxury cars, jewellery, luxury watches and 2.5 kg of gold were also found.

The suspects are being investigated for large-scale cross-border Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud involving the trade of electronic goods and protective face masks through companies based in several European countries. MTIC fraud is the theft of value-added tax (VAT) from a government by organised crime groups. The perpetrators are believed to have defrauded up to EUR 195 million through several criminal schemes. Most of the VAT damage was caused in Sweden, where the missing trader companies were based.

Eurojust supported two investigations targeting the same crimes, one led by the EPPO and a second one led by the Swedish authorities. The EPPO investigation targeted the two managers and shareholders of a German distributor company that was acting as an in/out buffer/conduit company in the fraud chain. It purchased and sold mobile phones to other companies in several countries, which were then sold to the Swedish missing trader companies. Eurojust was instrumental in identifying ongoing linked investigations in Sweden, targeting the individual behind the Swedish missing trader companies.

The case was opened at Eurojust in 2021 at the request of the German European Delegated Prosecutor. Eurojust facilitated the cooperation between the EPPO and Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and Poland – all EU Member States that do not participate in the EPPO – and the United Kingdom. Eurojust can support cross-border cooperation in EPPO cases that involve countries that do not participate in the EPPO. The Agency also facilitated cooperation between Sweden and Malta.

The Agency hosted seven coordination meetings to facilitate judicial cooperation between the EPPO and the national authorities involved in the case. Eurojust facilitated the exchange of information and the execution of several European Investigation Orders and European Arrest Warrants.

During the action day, a coordination centre was set up at the EPPO premises in Luxembourg, for the first time jointly with Eurojust. The Eurojust coordination centre focused in particular on coordinating the execution of the Swedish measures in Malta.

In the run-up to the action day, Europol provided analytical support to the partners in this investigation. Furthermore, Europol supported the action day by providing over 100 secure communication channels (VCP – Virtual Command Post), and by deploying a specialist with a mobile office to the operational command centre at EPPO’s headquarters in Luxembourg.

Eurojust and the EPPO signed a Working Arrangement in February of 2021 to facilitate cooperation between the Agency and the EPPO.

The following authorities took part in this investigation:

  • Germany: German Tax Investigation Offices in Berlin, Bielefeld, Cottbus, Münster and Nuremberg; Police Headquarters from Nordhessen and Brandenburg; State Criminal Police Offices from Brandenburg and Berlin;
  • Malta: Malta Police Force – Financial Crimes Investigation Department and International Relations Unit;
  • Poland: Circuit Prosecutor’s Office in Warszawa and Zamość; Police Headquarters in Warszawa and Zamość;
  • Sweden: Swedish Economic Crime Authority.