In a sign of mounting action against crypto-fuelled organised crime, European authorities arrested 16 people and seized 216 kilograms of methamphetamine in a cross-border raid, Europol said Wednesday.
Police also froze €30,000 in cryptocurrency.
“That part of the investigation is still ongoing with further seizures expected down the line,” Europol, the European Union’s agency for police cooperation, said in a statement.
This bust reveals how the Sinaloa Cartel, based in northern Mexico, and other organised crime groups are expanding their operations in the European underworld.
They use cryptocurrencies to launder money, fund their operations, and move cash around anonymously, authorities said.
The case is yet another development in the rapidly escalating crime wave in the European crypto scene, especially France.
Abduction attempt
The French crypto industry is reeling from a masked gang’s unsuccessful abduction attempt of an executive’s family in Paris on May 13.
French media reported that 24 suspects have been taken into custody in connection to that incident.
Since January, there have been at least six different violent attacks in France on crypto entrepreneurs or their close relatives, according to security expert Jameson Lopp.
Europol said the meth and crypto seizure shows how Mexican cartels are teaming up with EU-based criminal networks to traffic synthetic drugs across the continent.
Investigators found that the chemicals used for production of the drugs came from China. Transactions related to the purchases of these chemicals were executed using cryptocurrency.
Money laundering tool
The group also used crypto as a money laundering tool, leveraging decentralised exchanges and mixers, along with a series of wallets to hide their tracks.
Recent operations led to the shutdown of similar drug trafficking groups, which have increasingly relied upon cryptocurrencies for their processes.
Zachary Rampone is a DeFi correspondent at DL News. Have a tip? Contact him at [email protected]