Category: Intelligence

Source: Interpol (news and events)

LYON, France – An INTERPOL crackdown on West African organized crime has seen bank accounts frozen, suspects arrested, and financial investigations triggered worldwide.

Between 15 and 29 May, Operation Jackal mobilised police forces, financial crime units and cybercrime agencies across 21 countries around the world to deliver a targeted strike against Black Axe and similar West African organized crime groups.

More than 200 bank accounts linked to the illicit proceeds of online financial crime were blocked during the operation and several kingpins arrested whose crime networks are considered a serious global security threat.

Results at a glance:

• EUR 2.15M seized or frozen
• 103 arrests
• 1,110 suspects identified
• 208 bank accounts blocked

“Organized crime is mostly driven by financial gain and INTERPOL is committed to working with our member countries to deprive these groups of their ill-gotten assets. This successful operation involving so many countries clearly shows what can be achieved through international cooperation, and will serve as a blueprint for concerted police action against financial crime in the future,” said Isaac Kehinde Oginni, Director of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC).

“It also sends a strong message to West African crime networks that no matter where they hide in cyberspace, INTERPOL will pursue them relentlessly. The illegal activities of Black Axe and similar crimes syndicates will remain a priority for INTERPOL,” added the IFCACC Director.

In Portugal, four investigations resulted in the accumulated seizure and recovery of almost EUR 1.4 million.

A total of 34 arrests were made during the Irish leg of Operation Jackal, 12 for investigative purposes and 22 for money laundering and gangland-style offences.

In five criminal cases involving Irish companies, EUR 225,655 was recovered through Operation Jackal beyond Irish borders.

‘It became apparent early in the investigation that international cooperation and the use of INTERPOL’s analytical and coordination capabilities was essential to the investigation, and remains a pivotal element to the success to date and the ongoing investigation into this group,” said Deputy Head of the National Central Bureau in Dublin Tony Kelly.

Further arrests and prosecutions are foreseen across the world as intelligence continues to come in and investigations unfold.

Black Axe, and an increasing number of other West African organized crime syndicates, is a violent mafia-style gang renowned for cyber-enabled financial fraud, in particular business email compromise schemes, romance scams, inheritance scams, credit card fraud, tax fraud, advance payment scams and money laundering.

Empowering member countries

Sharing case studies and investigative intelligence both ahead of and during the operation, countries were able to target specific suspects and locations for raids, house searches, judicial proceedings and arrests.

The General Secretariat provided support services in the field, facilitating arrests through case coordination, crime analysis and the provision of intelligence leads.

INTERPOL officials were deployed to Cote d’Ivoire, Portugal and Spain where they supported local law enforcement with crime analysis and case coordination support.

INTERPOL also assisted local law enforcement in examining the devices seized during arrests, cross checking data against INTERPOL criminal databases and coordinating outreach with law enforcement agencies in other member countries.

Participating countries : Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Operation Jackal 2022 saw EUR 1.2 million intercepted in bank accounts and 75 arrests.

Source: Interpol (news and events)

SINGAPORE – The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Academy of India took a significant step towards enhancing international cooperation and bolstering law enforcement efforts by officially joining the INTERPOL Global Academy Network on 8 August as its 10th member.

The move will help enhance regional and global police capacity as well as foster collaboration among law enforcement agencies worldwide.

Launched in 2019, the INTERPOL Global Academy Network is led by INTERPOL’s Capacity Building and Training Directorate and aims to lead a global approach to law enforcement training.

By assisting INTERPOL in delivering specialized trainings on its policing capabilities, offering programmes of continuing education, jointly developing and delivering new training programmes, and collaborating on joint research projects, Network members support INTERPOL in expanding upskilling opportunities for law enforcement around the globe.

With a vast training catalogue and expertise, including advanced scientific investigations, cybercrime investigations, cyber forensics, economic crimes and anti-corruption, the CBI Academy of India will enrich the training offer available to INTERPOL member countries in the Asia region and beyond.

The online ceremony marking the CBI Academy’s entry into the INTERPOL Global Academy Network was attended by high-ranking officials from both parties, underlying the importance of forging lasting partnerships and promoting training and shared values on a regional and global scale.

Glenn Martindale, Director of the INTERPOL Capacity Building and Training Directorate, commented: “The CBI Academy’s inclusion in the Network […] is not only a recognition of its expertise in police training but also an acknowledgment of its willingness to share best practices, innovative approaches, and lessons learned. By working together, we can tackle complex and evolving security challenges that transcend borders, uniting our efforts to safeguard our communities and promote justice on a global scale.”

The INTERPOL Global Academy Network is rapidly expanding and INTERPOL expects further members to join later in 2023.

Source: Interpol (news and events)

DAR ES SALAM, Tanzania – INTERPOL and AFRIPOL have coordinated an operation across 25 African countries that enabled investigators to arrest 14 suspected cybercriminals and identify 20,674 suspicious cyber networks, highlighting the surge in digital insecurity and cyber threats in the region.

The networks identified were linked to financial losses of more than USD 40 million.

The four-month Africa Cyber Surge II operation was launched in April 2023 and focused on identifying cybercriminals and compromised infrastructure. It was coordinated by INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Directorate, under the auspices of the INTERPOL Africa Cybercrime Operations desk and INTERPOL’s Support Programme for the African Union in relation to AFRIPOL (ISPA).

The operation sought to facilitate communication, provide analysis and share intelligence between countries, streamlining cooperation between African law enforcement agencies to prevent, mitigate, investigate, and disrupt cyber extorsion, phishing, business email compromise and online scams.

By leveraging actionable private sector intelligence, it underlined how cybersecurity is most effective when international law enforcement, national authorities, and private sector partners cooperate to share best practices and pro-actively combat cybercrime.

INTERPOL, AFRIPOL and private sector partners Group-IB and Uppsala Security provided on-the-ground operational support, sharing actionable intelligence leveraged throughout the operation.

Operational highlights

• In Cameroon, acting on a tip-off from Côte d’Ivoire, three suspects were arrested in relation to an online scam involving the fraudulent sale of works of art worth USD 850,000.
• Authorities in Nigeria arrested a suspect accused of defrauding a Gambian victim.
• Police in Mauritius arrested two money mules linked to scams initiated through messaging platforms.
• In Gambia, proactive measures and strong partnerships led to the take down of 185 Internet Protocols (IP) connected to malicious activities.
• Two Darknet sites have been taken down following actions by Cameroonian authorities.
• In Kenya, authorities took down 615 malware hosters.

Some 150 INTERPOL analytical reports providing intelligence and insight on cyber threats targeting specific countries were distributed to participating countries for investigative and disruptive actions during the operation.

Developed by INTERPOL based on information shared by partners Group-IB, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, and Coinbase, the reports contained information on:

• 3,786 malicious command and control servers
• 14,134 victim IPs linked to data stealer cases
• 1,415 phishing links and domains
• 939 scam IPs
• More than 400 other malicious URLs, IPs and botnets.

“The Africa Cyber Surge II operation has led to the strengthening of cybercrime departments in member countries as well as the solidification of partnerships with crucial stakeholders, such as computer emergency response teams and Internet Service Providers. This will further contribute to reducing the global impact of cybercrime and protecting communities in the region,” said Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General.

The initiative highlighted the strong correlation between financial crime and cybercrime, allowing participating countries to expand their law enforcement response by adopting a “follow the money” approach.

It was also preceded by a one-week tabletop exercise in Tanzania on cybercrime and cryptocurrency investigations, equipping officials from 20 African countries with the knowledge and skills necessary for the successful execution of the operation.

“As digital systems, Information Communication Technologies and Artificial Intelligence grow in prominence, it is urgent that public and private actors work hand in hand to prevent these technologies from being exploited by cybercriminals. Coordinated operations such as Cyber Surge are necessary to disrupt criminal networks and build individual, organizational and society-wide levels of protection,” said AFRIPOL’s Acting Executive Director, Ambassador Jalel Chelba.

Africa Cyber Surge II was carried out with funding by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the German Federal Foreign Office and the Council of Europe.

Source: Interpol (news and events)

LYON, France – An international coalition led by INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has launched the second phase of a global programme to tackle forestry crime.

With its emphasis on intelligence-led operations, multi-agency cooperation, and technical law enforcement expertise, the programme – codenamed LEAP II – will offer a unique portfolio of support that helps countries across Latin America and Southeast Asia address forestry crime and illegal tropical deforestation.

Funded by Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI), LEAP helps global law enforcement disrupt international criminal networks and protect the world’s forests.

Bringing key players together to fight crimes against the planet

Building on the success of Phase 1, LEAP II will continue to help countries identify illicit activities along the timber supply chain and prevent, detect and disrupt global criminal networks involved in forest crime.

Officers on the frontlines will use global police databases and intelligence to uncover suspected criminals, detect the movement of protected merchandise and spot suspicious companies across multiple jurisdictions.

“Billions are being made in illicit profits by criminals effectively looting our planet. It is only through committed law enforcement efforts and multi-agency and private sector cooperation at the global level that can we effectively tackle this global crime,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.

“Phase I of LEAP saw significant successes in fighting one of the world’s most lucrative environmental crimes, so INTERPOL is very pleased to renew our working relationship with both NICFI and UNODC,” added Secretary General Stock.

Targeted law enforcement operations to end illegal deforestation

The first phase of LEAP led to the seizure of more than 500 tonnes of illegal timber, numerous arrests and the disruption of several criminal networks worldwide.

“We cannot afford to allow the continued exploitation of our rainforests. Criminals have been selfishly profiting from illegal deforestation for too long, putting our climate, biodiversity, and human health at gigantic risk,” said Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC.

“By joining forces with INTERPOL and Norway, LEAP has been a powerful way to fight back against this alarming threat, and I am confident that its second phase will continue to help safeguard our rainforests for generations to come,” added Executive Director Waly.

In 2022 alone, INTERPOL and LEAP partners coordinated four global operations targeting illegal logging and wildlife crime, with over 1,000 timber seizures in 40 countries, the equivalent of 50,468 m3 or 20 Olympic swimming pools with a total value of USD 740,000.

Field operations saw the arrest of some 300 individuals, triggering more than 20 transnational investigations in LEAP beneficiary countries as well as the identification of 25 new international illegal timber trade routes.

“Illegal logging poses a threat to the rainforest. Behind are often powerful people and networks who profit from the logging and who convert the forest to cultivate coca and other crops or to develop mines,” said Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment.

“I am proud to announce Norway’s support to a new phase of our collaboration with INTERPOL and the UNODC. This will enable them to continue their support to rainforest countries in their investigations and prosecutions of forest crime.”

LEAP I – implemented between 2018 and 2022 – served to establish tailored working relationships with law enforcement agencies across the globe, building a solid foundation for sustainability and efficiency in tackling organized forest crime.

LEAP II will enable countries to tackle forestry crime through associated crime areas such as money laundering, tax evasion, corruption and drug trafficking.

The three organizations supporting LEAP work together to improve law enforcement capacity, connectivity between countries and agencies, and the successful prosecution of cases related to illegal deforestation.

The launch of LEAP’s phase II is particularly timely given the official kick off today of the Nature Crime Alliance (NCA) during the Global Environment Facility in Vancouver, Canada.

With close NCA-INTERPOL collaboration key to greater impact in tackling environmental crime, INTERPOL is one of the launch partners of this global, multi-sector network aiming at raising political will, mobilizing financial commitment, and bolstering operational capacity to fight crimes against the environment.

Source: Interpol (news and events)

LYON, France – German police and INTERPOL are seeking the public’s help in identifying a deceased boy and to determine the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

The child’s remains were discovered on 19 May 2022 in the River Danube near Grossmehring in Bavaria, Germany, weighed down with a flagstone slab and wrapped in foil. It is not known how long the body was in the water.

The boy is thought to be aged between five and six. He was approximately 110 cm tall and 15kg, with brown hair and blood type 0.

The results of investigations indicate that he likely spent time outside of Germany.

To widen the investigation’s reach, and at the request of German authorities, INTERPOL has circulated a Black Notice to the Organization’s 195 member countries.

Black Notices are international alerts used to gather information and intelligence on unidentified bodies.

As part of the public appeal to identify the boy, key details of the Black Notice are now being shared, including facial reconstruction images and physical characteristics.

“Through this Black Notice, INTERPOL is calling upon the global law enforcement community to cross-check databases and consult open or unsolved cases,” said Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General.

“Someone, somewhere knows something about this boy, making it equally important to release certain details publicly. Whether he was the victim of trafficking, abduction or violence, we are committed to mobilizing all of INTERPOL’s policing capabilities to identify him and help investigators shed light on his death.”

Members of the public, particularly those who remember a missing child whose characteristics and disappearance indicate a potential link to this case, are invited to contact the national police team in Germany should they have any information.

Since 2021, INTERPOL has been providing investigators with the I-Familia database, a global tool which helps identify unknown bodies through international family DNA kinship matching. For biological relatives who believe the boy could be a member of their family, national police once contacted can liaise with INTERPOL for international DNA comparison.

The case falls under the framework of the Identify Me programme and the public release of information contained in Black Notices to help unlock ‘cold cases’. Identify Me was first launched in May of this year in connection with on-going efforts to identify 22 suspected female murder victims, with more than 500 messages and tips received from the public.