Since its origin in 1989 the the international anti-money laundering regime is not working as well as intended. After two decades of failed efforts, experts still ponder how to implement one that does work. A bolder initiative is required at the United Nations level, moving from recommendations to obligations, and fully [...]
Tags: financial regulation, Money laundering, tax evasion, UK, USA
London firms act as fronts for drug-dealing and money-laundering and provide hideouts for fugitive gunmen, says anti-mafia investigator
The tentacles of the mafia are spreading to the UK, as British cities become key locations in the mob’s vital money-laundering operations, according to Italy’s leading expert in organised crime, Francesco Forgione.
Last week Britain’s Gambling Commission suspended the [...]
Tags: camorra, Cosa Nostra, Francesco Forgione, italy, law on confiscation, Mafia Export, ndrangheta, UK
Scotland Yard and Spanish police have seized cocaine with a street value of £375m from a ship off the coast of northern Spain.
At least 1.5 tonnes of the drug were found hidden on board The Destiny Express after it was boarded by Spanish police 200 miles off the Iberian coast.
The 150ft former coastguard vessel was [...]
Tags: Cocaine, Drug trafficking, spain, UK
The Cheshire-based gang members attempted to smuggle the drugs through Newhaven Ferryport, the Channel Tunnel and Lille, northern France, as cargo in lorries.
The smuggling was described in court as a ”cunning” operation, and all the men were sentenced for conspiracy to import cannabis.
Gary Henderson, Ian Price [...]
Tags: Drug trafficking, France, spain, trafficking of cannabis, UK
November 29, 2009
The problem of illicit trade, tobacco smuggling and organized crime enjoys unprecedented attention at the top European level in these days, especially in Brussels, where European governments say they’re going to fight back harder than ever. Why?
The illegal trade in tobacco robs EU countries of nearly 10 billion euros ($14.78 billion of potential [...]
Tags: Bill Newton Dunn, Carlo van Heuckelom, cigarettes smuggling, Gay Mitchell, Germany, ireland, UK
The Italians have frozen the assets of the London-based online betting site Paradise Bet as part of a huge three-year operation called Domino aimed at demolishing the Parisi gang in southern Italy.
The Italian police arrested 74 people and seized businesses, land, race horses and the London [...]
Tags: drug, italy, Money laundering, Serbia, UK
Fifteen children were found at three homes today by police investigating an alleged child trafficking ring.
Police raided the addresses in Manchester following intelligence that youngsters were being moved out of a Romanian village into the UK.
Four women and two men, aged between 23 and 32, were being questioned by detectives after officers executed warrants in [...]
Tags: child trafficking, human trafficking, Romania, UK
On the initiative of the French Police aux Frontiéres (PAF) police officers in France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom arrested 22 persons today for facilitating people smuggling. The arrested persons are suspected of smuggling around 2000 illegal immigrants, mainly from Iraq, into the EU. During a house search also 7 possible illegal [...]
Tags: France, Greece, human trafficking, italy, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, women trafficking
November 18, 2009
A wholesale review of the structure, purpose and future of policing is needed urgently, the leader of the country’s police chief officers has told The Times.
Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), questioned if the policing set-up was fit for purpose in a world where [...]
Tags: ireland, organised crime, Sir Hugh Orde, UK
Gang members thought to be behind a £10m money laundering and human trafficking ring in Kettering, who kept more than 70 people as “modern day slaves” have been charged.
A year after raids in which 76 people were freed from 12 properties in Kettering, police have revealed 13 people are facing charges.
Kettering is a town in [...]
Tags: human trafficking, UK
