"Police Crack Comms to Bust Money Laundering Group"

Police have recently claimed to have busted a criminal network believed to have laundered over $198m in drug trafficking profits after analyzing decrypted messages.  Europol said it supported a joint investigation by the Belgian Federal Judicial Police Leuven and the Spanish Guardia Civil.  Europol noted that the organized crime group of Moroccan, Spanish, and Belgian nationals apparently operated in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, South America, and Dubai.  An action day in March 2023 led to five arrests in Belgium and another in Spain, and the seizure of $1.3m in cryptocurrency, three properties, $55,000 in cash, one luxury car, several luxury watches, jewelry, 23 phones, three safe boxes and a money counting machine.  Europol noted that the investigation began in October 2021 when police analyzed messages sent via the popular criminal communications network Sky ECC, after cracking the service’s encryption.  That uncovered a major cocaine trafficking operation that ferried the drug in large quantities from South America to ports and airports in Europe, using insiders at various locations to wave several tonnes of shipments through.  According to Europol, the group had managed to stay hidden by using a string of cover companies until police got hold of the decrypted Sky ECC messages.  The money laundering was achieved mainly through investments in cryptocurrency and luxury property in the EU and Morocco and via an underground banking system.

Infosecurity reports: "Police Crack Comms to Bust Money Laundering Group"