European crypto criminal ring disassembled

The European authorities have broken a crypto laundry that moved over 21 million euros for criminal groups bound with China and the Middle East. The group “Mafia Crypto Bank” called the Hawala method and cryptocurrency group to cover illegal fund transmissions.

Seventeen suspects were arrested in a Spanish surgery with additional arrests in Austria and Belgium. Most of the imprisoned prison terms were Chinese and Syrian origin and supposedly served customers who were involved in drug trafficking and migrant smuggling.

The police confiscated assets of 4.5 million euros, including digital currencies, cash, vehicles, shotguns and luxury goods.

The group was a transfer company and advertised its services on social media. The procedure underlines the growing concern about the role of crypto in organized crime, with illegal transactions reaching 51.3 billion dollars in 2024.

The crime crimes continued to increase in 2025, with 1.74 billion US dollars have already been reported to losses, which corresponds to the whole year.

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