Russian mafia money-laundering gang broken up in Spain

Fourteen people have been arrested in Spain and Portugal in a series of raids targeting a €1tn (£828bn) criminal, money-laundering network working with gangs across Europe.

Most of the suspects, detained last month, are Russian nationals, according to EU law enforcement agency Europol.

The ring mainly laundered money originating from illegal drug trafficking and charged 2-3% commission per transfer as part of “a genuine multinational money laundering company”, according to Spain’s National Police.

Nine properties were raided in cities across Spain, as well as the Portuguese capital Lisbon, and more than €1m in cash and cryptocurrencies were seized.

The gang operated in cities across Spain with each office processing as much as €300,000 a day for Albanian, Serbian, Armenian, Chinese, Ukrainian and Colombian mafias based within the EU and elsewhere.

The investigation began in 2023 when police noticed that several known members of the Russian mafia were systematically transferring money belonging to foreign nationals in and out of Spain on a daily basis.

Europol said the scheme used the “Hawala” method which involves customers in one location approaching a broker who then contacts a colleague in another location who transfers the desired amount to the recipient.

This allowed gangs to transfer money across countries without moving it either physically or digitally between bank accounts.

The gang also looked into expanding its business to Cuba with the aim of installing solar panels to provide energy to the Cuban government in exchange for minerals.

During phone-calls with Cuban officials, gang members claimed to have close links to Spanish political leaders.

Each of the raided properties in Madrid, Málaga, Marbella, Torremolinos, Coín, Ayamonte and Lisbon contained a high-security safe and a money-counting machine stored in a sound-proof cabinet used to obscure the recognisable noise of the money counters.

Gang members avoided detection by regularly changing location and vehicles and using encrypted mobile phones.

The phones were linked in such a way that should a member of the group be arrested, the mobile phones of the entire ring would be simultaneously locked down.

Police say the three ringleaders remain in custody and say other arrests are possible.