Police dismantle drug money laundering network

Thirty-six people were arrested earlier this week in France and abroad in an ongoing operation to dismantle a money laundering ring related to drug dealing.

REUTERS/Yves Herman

Police in Marseilles and Paris seized €2.5 million as well as seven kilos of gold and 10 kgs of cocaine in the operation.

A source close to the investigation told the French news agency, AFP, that this was one of the biggest drug-related money laundering operations in Europe and involved some €50 million.

The arrests took place in Paris, Marseille, the Netherlands and Belgium with the majority of those arrested holding French nationality.
The arrests targeted money collectors for the lucrative drug trade, most of it from cannabis.

Those that were arrested are being detained in Paris. Not all of them are directly linked to the distribution of drugs, but are responsible for placing the drug money in offshore accounts in tax havens.

Elsewhere, Austrian, Czech and German police have busted a 50-member gang that manufactured methamphetamine in the Czech Republic and sold it in Austria and Germany, a police spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The individuals detained include "drug producers, organizers, couriers and dealers", said Barbora Kudlackova, spokeswoman for the Czech anti-drug police unit