Dec 10 2024
Azerbaijan’s government has intensified its crackdown on independent media. Six journalists from Meydan TV, one of the country’s few remaining independent outlets, detained. Ministry of Interior Affairs claimed that Ramin Jabrayilzada [Deko], an independent reporter collaborating with Meyda TV, was at Baku airport on allegations of smuggling foreign currency. Authorities also detained five other journalists …
Dec 06 2024
Kwabena Duodu, a former accountant for a national children’s charity, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was convicted of 10 counts of cheating the public revenue and seven counts of furnishing false information. He spent part of the stolen funds on a 5-bedroom house. A third pastor received a suspended sentence for his …
Dec 06 2024
Western Europe and the EU have the best anti-money laundering (AML) laws, according to the Basel Institute on Governance. Malta and Bulgaria are the only countries in the region to receive above-average risk scores. However, financial transparency remains a vulnerability, given the region’s large number of large banks. The index ranks countries by their AML …
Nov 30 2024
Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia arrested 11 people. They are suspected of smuggling more than half a tonne of cocaine from South America into the European Union. In March 2021, authorities seized cocaine concealed in the modified floor of a cargo container at the Croatian port of Ploče. The shipment’s street value …
Nov 30 2024
The operation, codenamed Admiral 2.0, mobilized over 600 law enforcement officers in raids across 16 countries. Preliminary estimates point to an additional €297 million ($313.93 million) in VAT losses linked to the previously discovered scheme. The fraudulent network, primarily based in the Baltics, mirrored techniques exposed in the original operation, launched in 2022. That operation …
Nov 30 2024
International police operation shuts down one of the world’s largest illegal online streaming services. It is estimated that the service caused 10 billion euros ($10.55 billion) in annual financial damages. The pirated streaming service was run by a transnational, hierarchical organization that illegally captured and resold content from major streaming platforms. The stolen content included …
Nov 29 2024
The November 20 operation mobilized more than 450 officers across Europe. 25 arrests were made in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Poland, Serbia, and the UK. Among those arrested were three high-value targets, including an Iraqi citizen accused of heading a linked smuggling ring. According to Europol, migrants paid between 4,500 euros ($4,715) and 12,000 …
Nov 29 2024
Tuvalu’s High Commission in Fiji agreed on May 2 to purchase three adjoining lots of land for FJ$ 5.8 million ($2.7 million) in the Raiwai area of Fiji’s capital, Suva. The sale was signed just over a month after OCCRP revealed that Australia had designated Chinese businessman Zhao as one of its top international criminal …
Nov 29 2024
The Gulf Cartel has expanded into illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing to fund its broader criminal enterprises. The cartel uses “lancha” boats to illegally harvest shark and red snapper from U.S. waters. The sanctions mark a significant action against the cartel, which is better known for its violent drug trafficking. The move is aimed …
Nov 29 2024
The camp, located near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border in the small town of Naroulia, operated in a former industrial complex during the spring of 2022. Witnesses described overcrowded conditions, insufficient food, and inadequate sanitation. Ukrainian men accused of resisting Russian occupation were reportedly interrogated and mistreated by Russian military personnel. One former detainee recounted beatings and …