20 members of criminal network arrested in cooperation with Europol and Georgia
By Khatia Bzhalava
Thursday, November 5
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has made a statement, according to which, as a result of an unprecedented international police operation - 2BaGoldMule, 20 members of the criminal network QQAAZZ were arrested. The organization which provided money-laundering service to the world’s leading cybercriminals attempted to launder tens of millions of euros. A large-scale investigative operation, involving law enforcement agencies from 16 states, was coordinated by Europol.
The operation was preceded by a complex investigation conducted by the police of Portugal, the United States, and Spain, as well as the law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom, Georgia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Australia, Sweden, Austria and Belgium under the coordination of Europol.
The investigation ascertained that members of the QQAAZZ network, who were from Latvia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Belgium, had opened hundreds of personal and corporate bank accounts throughout the world, where they transferred money stolen from victims by cybercriminals. As the ministry notes, the mentioned funds were then transferred to QQAAZZ-controlled accounts and sometimes converted into cryptocurrencies.
The statement reads that the ministry continues the provision of different kinds of operational assistance to Europol, Interpol, and other countries within the frames of bilateral cooperation agreements, as “International Police Cooperation is one of the priority directions for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
As MIA notes, the Center for International Cooperation in the Law Enforcement Sphere and Cybercrime Division under the Main Division for Combating Organized Crime of the Central Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was actively engaged in the investigation.
