Europol’s joint operation to crackdown international gang
Europol recently arrested 34 people in Spain who are alleged to have a role in a global criminal gang called Black Axe. The operation was conducted by Spanish National Police and Bavarian State Criminal Police Office and Europol.
Twenty eight individuals were arrested in Seville, three in Madrid and two in Malaga, and the last one in Barcelona. Among the 34 suspects, 10 individuals are from Nigeria.
“The action resulted in 34 arrests and significant disruptions to the group's activities. Black Axe is a highly structured, hierarchical group with its origins in Nigeria and a global presence in dozens of countries,” Europol said in a press release on its website.
About Black Axe
Black Axe is infamous for its role in various cyber crimes like frauds, human trafficking, prostitution, drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, and malicious spiritual activities. The gang annually earns roughly billions of euros via these operations that have a massive impact.
Officials suspect that Black Axe is responsible for fraud worth over 5.94 million euros. During the operation, the investigating agencies froze 119352 euros in bank accounts and seized 66403 euros in cash during home searches.
The crackdown
Germany and Spain's cross-border cooperation includes the deployment of two German officers on the scene on the day of action, the exchange of intelligence, and the provision of analytical support to Spanish investigators.
The core group of the organized crime network, which recruits money mules in underprivileged communities with high unemployment rates, was the objective of the operation. The majority of these susceptible people are of Spanish nationality and are used to support the illegal activities of the network.
Europol's key role
Europol provided a variety of services to help this operation, such as intelligence analysis, a data sprint in Madrid, and on-the-spot assistance. Mapping the organization's structure across nations, centralizing data, exchanging important intelligence packages, and assisting with coordinated national investigations have all been made possible by Europol.
In order to solve the problems caused by the group's scattered little cases, cross-border activities, and the blurring of crimes into "ordinary" local offenses, this strategy seeks to disrupt the group's operations and recover assets.
