Europol - Newsroom

1. 23 underground bankers arrested

   The organised criminal network, composed of mostly Ukrainian but also Armenian, Azerbaijani, or Kazakh nationals, has been providing cash courier and underground banking services to other criminal networks. Chinese actors were also part of this criminal network, providing money laundering services. This catalogue of crime-as-a-service offerings was used by various Russian-speaking and Asian criminal actors engaged in drug trafficking, tax...

2. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands visits Europol

   His Majesty the King of the Netherlands visited Europol today, where he gained insight into the Agency’s efforts to support EU Member States in tackling serious and organised crime, and terrorism.Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle welcomed His Majesty to the organisation’s headquarters as Europol recently marked 25 years of fostering law enforcement cooperation across Europe and beyond. Becoming fully...

3. Polish fugitive arrested in the Netherlands thanks to a tip received via EU Most Wanted website

   The fugitive was wanted in connection with multiple serious offenses across Poland and Germany. These included his suspected involvement in a fatal violent incident in Poland in December 2021, in which the victim succumbed to his injuries. He was also convicted in Poland for a violent offence in 2019, for which he was sentenced to one year in prison, and...

4. No stone left unturned: 7.2 tonnes of cocaine and EUR 6 million seized in large drug sting

   The Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil), supported by Europol, has dismantled a large-scale drug trafficking network in an investigation involving Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. The suspects were allegedly involved in the reception and wholesale distribution of cocaine across the EU, as well as in money laundering. The sting was coordinated by Europol’s Operational Taskforce.Network spans Latin America, Europe...

5. Violence as a service: criminals hire criminals

   The criminal networks orchestrated a series of attacks with the use of explosives, as well as serious kidnapping cases on German soil, which immediately caught law enforcement’s attention. Law enforcement in Germany and the Netherlands monitored the situation and then carried out the most recent action day in Amsterdam on 21 January 2025.Cross-border crime tackled via cross-border action dayThe action...