EU Authorities Smash Chinese Money Laundering Network

Five members of an alleged Chinese criminal network have been arrested this week in Madrid and other major cities in Spain as part of an international law enforcement investigation coordinated the EU´s Europol.

Jointly run by France’s anti-fraud squad and the Spanish National Police the investigation began in February 2021 when French customs agents found more than 500,000 euros hidden in a car in southern France.

The subsequent investigation uncovered a “criminal scheme for laundering large quantities of cash across Europe”, which had been operating since at least 2019, a joint statement said.

The criminal network is believed to have been operating across Europe since at least 2019. This prolific criminal network is believed to have had the capacity to smuggle over one million euros in cash per day.

Between 2 and 3 July, a dozen searches of homes, company headquarters, commercial warehouses and restaurants were carried out. The searches involved some hundred Spanish police officers who were supported on the ground by French Judicial Customs investigators and Europol experts. The searches took place in Madrid, Valencia, Alicante, and Barcelona.

The head of the criminal network is among those arrested ain addition to an estimated 160,000 Euros seized during the searches.

The investigation was initiated in February 2021 by the French authorities after the French Customs in Perpignan seized more than half a million euros in cash hidden in a vehicle equipped with a concealed compartment.

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