Europol yesterday mapped 821 criminal networks “most threatening” to the continent, painting a comprehensive picture of the inner workings of gangs involved in activities ranging from drug smuggling to human trafficking.
The Hague-based law agency released a new report which for the first time “analyzes in depth” the characteristics of Europe’s most nefarious underground groups and how they operate.
A key aspect was “criminal networks’ strategy to infiltrate the legal business world — as a facilitator to commit crimes, as a front to disguise crimes and as a vehicle to launder criminal profits,” the 51-page Europol report said.
Photo: AFP
Currently about 86 percent of Europe’s most threatening criminal groups used “legal business structures” with construction and property, hospitality and logistics the most vulnerable sectors targeted.
Criminal gangs favored real estate as a way to launder criminal proceeds, Europol said, using lawyers or financial experts “who are sometimes unaware of the criminal origins of the assets.”
Nightclubs are often used for drug trafficking, extortion and racketeering, and migrant and gun smuggling, the agency added.
In logistics, especially in Europe’s large ports, private sector workers “are regularly targeted” for corruption as they can “facilitate unrestricted access to ports and port systems” including data. The majority of Europe’s most dangerous gangs focused on drug smuggling — cocaine, cannabis, heroin and synthetic drugs — and operations were most often located in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
The report paid special attention to Dubai, which it said “has emerged as a remote coordinations hub, where high-level members and other criminal actors, such as brokers and organisers reside to coordinate the activities of criminal networks and hinder law enforcement detection.”
“However, when looking at the geographical location of leaders of high-risk criminal networks, Dubai does not appear to stand out as a secluded safe haven for leaders,” Europol said.
For instance, Dutch judges last month sentenced Ridouan Taghi, one of the country’s most-wanted drug barons, to life behind bars following his arrest in Dubai in 2019.
However, Europol warned that many of the most threatening crime networks have been around for years, with a third operating for more than a decade — some even able to continue operations from jail.
“This means that law enforcement attention should remain focused on long-standing known criminal networks, even if they are under law enforcement scrutiny and even if action has already been taken against them,” Europol said.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS