Complex crypto laundering system uncovered and Albanian crime syndicate dismantled

Complex crypto laundering system uncovered and Albanian crime syndicate dismantled

News | August 12, 2024 br>
By: Olav Sorensen

On Thursday, August 1, 2024, Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, announced that authorities in Albania, with the support of Belgian, Dutch and French police and intelligence from Europol, had completed a major raid against an organized criminal group.

As part of “Operation Gorgon,” Albanian authorities carried out a series of raids in the capital Tirana on July 31, arresting 15 suspected members of the notorious criminal network. According to Europol, the operation also resulted in the seizure of significant assets, including real estate and €1 million in cash.

Europol announced that the criminal group's target was an established Albanian crime syndicate with cross-border branches. The gang, which consists mainly of family members and associates from the same region of Albania, is believed to have been involved in numerous crimes, including contract killings, large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering.

Specifically, Europol stated that the group used complex cryptocurrency transactions to launder illicit profits internationally. One of the arrested individuals, a known money launderer based in Tirana, is alleged to have provided money laundering services to other high-level criminal organizations that carry out activities such as murder, corruption and drug trafficking around the world.

The investigation also revealed that the leader of the network and his accomplices had ordered the murder of several members of rival Albanian criminal gangs by hiring hitmen. This criminal group has so far been attributed with at least seven murders between 2019 and 2020, some of which took place outside Albania.

According to Europol, the information crucial to the operation was gathered by analyzing encrypted communications received by the encrypted phone platform Sky ECC. The actionable evidence was then passed on to Albania's Special Prosecutor's Office for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), which subsequently launched its investigation.

Europol continued to support SPAK by developing further intelligence and analysis and leveraging its expertise through various specialised units. On the day of the raids, three Europol experts were also deployed to Tirana to assist the Albanian authorities in carrying out enforcement activities.

The successful international operation was a major blow to one of Albania's most notorious criminal networks, which has a long history of committing serious crimes across multiple jurisdictions. It also demonstrated the importance of intelligence sharing and cooperation between law enforcement agencies in dismantling organised crime groups across Europe and beyond.