The French National Gendarmerie has completed an 18 month money laundering investigation, which has resulted in the arrest of 18 suspects and the seizure of ?4m worth of assets.
This criminal network is believed to be involved in money laundering to the value of ?90m a year.
The investigation, which was supported by Europol, carried out several raids since 2019.
The suspects are believed to have collected money in France and Spain originating from drug trafficking. Dirty money was transported from France to Morocco via Spain by concealing it in transportation trucks and vehicles, Europol claims.
Investigators seized ?2.5m in cash, three apartments, three trucks, six vehicles and several bank accounts. The also took 37kg of cannabis, 5kg of cocaine, two shotguns and one automatic pistol.
In 2018, investigators in Lyon detected a criminal network involved in the collection of cash generated by narcotic dealers known to law enforcement. Surveillance reportedly uncovereda fleet of fifteen Moroccan large trucks that roamed across France transporting goods and collecting dirty money from drug traffickers.
Europol claims the trucks could stop for several days while waiting to collect the money to transport to Morocco via Spain. The suspects are also alleged to have transported money concealed in cars. One raid, conducted back in September 2019, seized ?2m of cash hidden in a vehicle boot.
The investigation involved four reginal investigation units in Chambery, Lyon, N?mes and Montpellier.
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