Spanish and French police announced on Friday (July 5) that they have dismantled a Chinese money laundering network processing €1 million daily and arrested five members, including the ringleader, in Spain.
The investigation started in February 2021, jointly conducted by the French Anti-Fraud Team and Spanish authorities with support from the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol). It began when French customs officials found over €500,000 in cash inside a car in southern France.
The French authorities initiated the investigation in February 2021 after the customs in Perpignan, France, seized over €500,000 in cash from a vehicle equipped with hidden compartments.
Europol stated in a press release on Friday (July 5) that the criminal network was composed of Chinese citizens and had been operating across Europe since at least 2019. This prolific crime network was believed to have the capacity to smuggle over a million euros in cash daily.
The funds were derived from various illegal activities including trafficking counterfeit goods, tax and customs fraud, and prostitution. This criminal network relied on a complex network of logistics experts to facilitate the movement of cash across Europe.
From July 2 to 3, several raids were conducted on residences, company headquarters, commercial warehouses, and restaurants. Around a hundred Spanish police officers participated in the searches, with support from French customs judicial investigators and experts from Europol on the ground. The search locations included Madrid, Valencia, Alicante, and Barcelona in Spain.
The arrested individuals included the head of the criminal network, and nearly €160,000 in cash was seized during the searches.
This operation was conducted with financial support from the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), involving the governments of France and Spain.
The global activities of the Chinese money laundering organization linked to the Chinese Communist Party have been increasingly drawing attention from many countries. Ricardo Mayoral, the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Homeland Security Investigations combating transnational organized crime, stated at the end of April that “the Chinese Communist Party’s money laundering organization has evolved from being virtually unknown to becoming the dominant force behind most money laundering activities globally within less than a decade.”
Mayoral explained that the Chinese money laundering organization serves as a foreign exchange center, assisting transnational criminal organizations in converting dollars acquired through criminal activities into foreign currencies. They often utilize encrypted applications inaccessible to U.S. law enforcement to conduct transactions, allowing drug trafficking groups and Chinese money laundering organizations to swiftly and discreetly transfer large sums of illicit funds.