In a sweeping operation on Wednesday, authorities arrested 17 Turkish nationals—14 in Italy and three across other European countries—cracking down on a criminal organization linked to murders, migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, and counterfeit cigarette smuggling across Europe.
Belarus’ exiled political opposition has welcomed revelations from former security officers who defected, and have now presented evidence of Belarusian firms supplying Russia with military components critical to its war against Ukraine.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s law enforcement have apprehended a Dutch citizen of Iraqi descent suspected of orchestrating a criminal network that smugged more than 1,500 Iraqi nationals to the EU accruing a substantial illicit financial profit in the process.
Spain is investigating the son of Equatorial Guinea’s ruler, Teodoro Obiang, for his alleged involvement in a money laundering and tax fraud network that has whitewashed millions of dollars from bribes paid by a Portuguese company to which he awarded a construction contract in the African country.
A militia group allied with Myanmar’s military rulers is at the center of a network of illegal casinos and cyber-scam compounds, which use trafficked people to contact victims online and extort money from them, an activist group said in a report published today.
A Bishkek court informed OCCRP's Kyrgyz partner Kloop that its lawyers missed the deadline when they submitted their appeal to a February decision ordering the independent media outlet to be closed down. Therefore, their complaint could not be considered during Friday’s hearing.
Police in Ukraine have accused the director of an energy supply company in Kyiv of embezzling more than 67 million hryvnias (US$1.7 million) from the state budget by selling electricity at inflated prices to a department within the State Water Resources Agency.
Italian authorities have put 11 suspects under house arrest as part of a crackdown on a VAT fraud ring that has deprived the budget of the European Union as well as national budgets of more than 25 million euros (US$27.17 million).
Human Rights Watch has once again called for the release of rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was sentenced to death last month by an Iranian court for his critical stance against the Tehran regime and his support for the women's rights movement.
Russian authorities detained a senior Defense Ministry official, alleging his involvement in a large-scale bribery scheme exceeding 100 million Russian rubles (just over US$1 million), the Russian Investigative Committee stated Tuesday on its Telegram channel.