PJ helped dismantle international human trafficking network

The criminal network made millions of euros by bringing illegal immigrants into Europe and the United States. Europol made 26 arrests.

A criminal network will have brought to Europe, the United Kingdom and North America, since 2022, several thousand migrantsproviding them with plane tickets, false documents and other resources that facilitated their illegal travels.

It is estimated that the profits, obtained illegally, amount to several hundred million euros.

According to one from Europol, the investigation led by France and which has already detained 26 people focused on “several interconnected criminal groups that smuggled migrants from the Indian subcontinent (India, Sri Lanka and Nepal)”.

“Portugal, through the National Unit to Combat Cybercrime and Technological Crime (UNC3T) of the Judiciary Police (PJ), participated in the “Colombo” operationled by France, with the support of Europol, which resulted in the dismantling of a large criminal network of human trafficking and money laundering”, reads one from the PJ.

In the group there were 13 alleged smugglers and 6 financial intermediaries. The latter were part of a ready hawala (a popular and informal value transfer system) that is suspected of transferring more than €50 million in criminal assets annually to the migrant smuggling network.

There was even a priest in the smuggling network, who participated in the hawala network
e used a temple to recover drug money of migrants.

Using a legitimate company as a frontthe network used its “clean” assets to expand its activities, simultaneously employing irregular migrants and paying them wages significantly lower than normal wages in the sector.

“In the operation, they seized several properties (seven houses and four shops) worth approximately 2.5 million euros, 25 bank accounts with more than 150 thousand euros, 121 thousand euros in cryptocurrenciessix luxury vehicles not worth about 110 thousand euros, gold and jewelry valued at more than 4.5 million euros, 1700 in restaurant vouchers, machinery for the production of jewelry with an estimated value of half a million euros and 320 thousand euros in money“, he counts to PJ.