A respectable 52-year-old man, the owner of a real estate company, living in the elite Athenian district of Glyfada, gave the impression of a decent businessman to those around him, and no one who knew him could even imagine that this man was a banker of the drug mafia, which spread its tentacles all over Europe .
With these words, well-informed sources described the profile Albanian drug mafia bankerwho, according to Europol, laundered dirty money for the largest criminal organizations in the world and was arrested on May 31 in Glyfada.
The “mafia banker” has long been “under the hood” of the Dutch authorities, who turned to the Greek financial crime unit for help to put him under surveillance.
He did not arouse suspicion
The Dutch police conducted a lengthy investigation into his activities, as he is suspected of running a criminal organization that laundered tens of millions of euros for criminals every month. The “mafia banker” has been in the country for a long time and has taken care to create a profile that does not attract attention and does not arouse suspicion.
In particular, as follows from the police report, the arrested person led a correct lifestyle and strictly followed his daily routine. He woke up early in the morning, did exercises, then held meetings and, having finished his business, returned to his apartment.
This man ran a real estate company in Greece that owned about 13 apartments, not particularly large or luxurious, in the areas of Daphni and Ilioupolis, and while he was in Greece, he never aroused concern from the authorities.
How did the police get on his trail?
The countdown to tracking down and arresting the perpetrator began after the analysis of encrypted conversations. In particular, Europol was able to collect a large amount of information by hacking the systems of three encrypted communication tools that were commonly used by criminals – Encrochat, Sky ECC and ANOM. These conversations covered the period from June 2020 to March 2021 and were transcribed as part of an operation by the Dutch authorities called “Klaver”.
As the investigation showed, the “banker” managed to transfer a huge amount of 250 million euros in 10 months. The money moved through the “underground” banking system using encrypted communications, and this money was obtained from a wide range of illegal activities, mainly from the drug trade.
“He was able to move money remotely without arousing any suspicion. He is a top executive in the financial sector. He routed money through underground banking systems, and in the Netherlands distributed cash through couriers. At the end of the day they sent him the balance of payments, that is a general report on the transferred money,” informed sources explained to K.
Lots of cash and gold watches
During a search of the detainee’s house, banknotes of various countries were found and seized, including euros, US dollars, Canadian and Australian dollars, Swiss francs, Turkish pounds, dirhams of the United Arab Emirates and South African rands.
In addition, two luxury watches worth about 100,000 euros, mobile phones, including those used for encrypted conversations through special applications, a tablet, a digital disk and SIM cards were seized.
More Stories
Six tourists, passengers on a sightseeing bus, were injured in Athens
Cocaine bananas: ownerless cargo
Kallithea: arrest of a 16-year-old teenager