The National Police of Spain announced on January 14, 2024, the arrest of 17 individuals suspected of being part of a clandestine banking operation identified as one of the most powerful money laundering networks on an international scale.

The group is believed to have been orchestrated from Antwerp, Belgium, where the alleged ringleader, a Jordanian-Palestinian citizen with no prior criminal record, resided.

This individual is reportedly under investigation by a dozen countries, including the United States, for allegedly transferring approximately $21 million (18.7 million euros) within a two-year period, predominantly derived from human trafficking and drug trade activities.

The operation, named Karasu, was directed by the head of Instruction Court number 3 in Almería, and is a continuation of a prior investigation from March 2023 targeting an irregular immigration network.

This earlier operation involved transporting Syrian immigrants from the Algerian coast to Almería, with the individuals paying between 10,000 and 12,000 euros each.

The network is believed to have facilitated the illegal transit of between 800 and 1,000 immigrants, amassing nearly 10 million euros from these illicit activities, leading to this latest uncovering of the laundering scheme.

Fifteen of the arrests resulted in provisional detention under charges related to membership in a criminal organization and money laundering.

Activities were carried out by approximately 250 police officers during simultaneous raids across Antwerp and several provinces in Spain, including Madrid, Valencia, Málaga, Almería, and Cádiz.

Unusually, the judge and prosecutor involved monitored the police actions in real-time, expediting the operation.

Among those investigated, three individuals were classified as High Value Targets (HVT) by the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol).

Two of these suspects, including the alleged leader of the operation, were apprehended.

The leader, known as the _hawaladar_ (the person responsible for managing cash and bookkeeping for illegal transactions), was arrested in Belgium, with extradition to Spain pending.

Investigative officials, including members from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) and the Central Unit for Illegal Immigration Networks and Document Fraud (UCRIF), emphasized the importance of disrupting the financial resources of organized criminal entities.

Current findings indicate that the leader maintained no known legal economic activities in Belgium and directed a group of _mulas_, or money mules, operating in Spain.

The group, of Arab origin, which had previously been dismantled in the 2023 human trafficking investigation, regularly sought to transfer their illegal profits from various locations worldwide to Spain and countries like Belgium, Egypt, Syria, or Turkey.

A secondary group comprised of Chinese nationals based in Madrid was responsible for delivering funds to the Arab network, receiving a commission ranging from 1% to 3.5%.

This commission was often mandated to be paid in USDT cryptocurrency, which facilitated further movement through numerous virtual wallets to obscure the funds' origins.

The final destination of these funds was primarily China, although they would first return to the legal financial system via banks in jurisdictions with looser regulatory frameworks, such as Qatar and Turkey.

The operation is believed to have been active since at least 2022.

Investigators have confirmed 32 separate money laundering transactions related to this network, totaling over 5.5 million euros within just three months.

One specific address used for receiving and transferring funds reportedly handled 18.7 million euros between June 2022 and September 2024.

During the operation, authorities seized 205,000 euros in cash, 183,000 euros in cryptocurrencies, 18 vehicles valued over 207,000 euros, real estate assets exceeding 2.5 million euros, high-end cigars worth over 622,000 euros, premium wine bottles totaling more than 7,000 euros, and luxury handbags valued at 230,000 euros.

These articles were allegedly utilized as part of laundering operations for money generated through their illicit activities, with high-end cigars, for example, being sent to China for resale at significantly inflated prices.