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☆ Rare Editions of Pushkin Are Vanishing From Libraries Around Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Rachel Donadio | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In April 2022, soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, two men arrived at the library of the University of Tartu, Estonia’s second-largest city. They told the librarians they were Ukrainians fleeing war and asked to consult 19th-century first editions of works by Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s national poet, and Nikolai Gogol. Police are now investigating what they believe is a vast, coordinated series of thefts of rare 19th-century Russian books — primarily first and early editions of Pushkin — from libraries across Europe. Since 2022, more than 170 books valued at more than $2.6 million, according to Europol, have vanished from the National Library of Latvia in Riga, Vilnius University Library, the State Library of Berlin, the Bavarian State Library in Munich, the National Library of Finland in Helsinki, the National Library of France, university libraries in Paris, Lyon and Geneva, and from the Czech Republic. The University of Warsaw library was hardest hit, with 78 books gone.

Persons: Estonia’s, Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s, Nikolai Gogol, Eager, Krista Aru, “, ”, Pushkin Organizations: University of Tartu, Police, National Library of Latvia, Vilnius University Library, State Library of Berlin, Bavarian State Library, National Library of Finland, National Library of France, The University of Warsaw Locations: Russia, Ukraine, United States, Europe, Riga, Munich, Helsinki, Paris, Lyon, Geneva, Czech Republic

☆ LabHost: Police take down $249-a-month global phishing service used by 2,000 hackers
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Mark Thompson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Thirty-seven suspects were arrested, and more than 70 locations were searched in the UK and across the world between Sunday and Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. LabHost had obtained 480,000 bank card numbers, 64,000 pin numbers, as well as more than 1 million passwords used for websites and other online services, it said. In a separate statement, Europol said four people linked to the running of LabHost, including the developer of the service, had been arrested. At least 40,000 phishing domains, with about 10,000 users worldwide, had been uncovered by the investigation into LabHost, Europol said. “With a monthly fee averaging $249, LabHost would offer a range of illicit services which were customizable and could be deployed with a few clicks,” it said.

Persons: LabHost, Met, Europol Organizations: London CNN —, Metropolitan Police, European, Europol, US Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Locations: United Kingdom, Australia, Finland, LabHost

☆ Global police agencies take down massive scam website that defrauded thousands of victims
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Seksan Mongkhonkhamsao | Moment | Getty ImagesA huge fraud website used by thousands of criminals to trick people into handing over personal information such as email addresses, passwords and bank details, has been infiltrated by international police. Britain's Metropolitan Police said in a statement Thursday that the website, called LabHost, was used by 2,000 criminals to steal users' personal details. Police have so far identified just under 70,000 individual U.K. victims who entered their details onto a website linked to LabHost. LabHost obtained 480,000 credit card numbers, 64,000 PIN codes, as well as more than 1 million passwords used for websites and other online services, the Metropolitan Police said. The Metropolitan Police said that up to 25,000 victims in the U.K. have been contacted by police to notify them that their data has been compromised.

Persons: LabHost, Dame Lynne Owens, Owens Organizations: Britain's Metropolitan Police, Police, Metropolitan Police, The Metropolitan Police, Metropolitan Police Service, Intel, Microsoft, Shadowserver Foundation, Trend, Cyber Defence Alliance, National Crime Agency, City of London Police

☆ Formed in the Cold War, former members of Germany’s Red Army Faction are now fugitives
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Sophie Tanno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —German authorities have been tracking down the former members of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a now-defunct Cold War-era militant group, who have been on the run for nearly 30 years. The RAF, he said, emerged in what was then West Berlin, at the “crossroads” of the Cold War. The first, and most prominent period from 1970-1977, saw the group murder public officials and US soldiers and take many hostages. In April 1975, six RAF members seized the West German Embassy in Stockholm in a hostage standoff with the goal of forcing the release of imprisoned RAF members. The Red Army Faction claimed responsibility for the assassination, but the perpetrators were never brought to justice.

Persons: Baader, –, Jürgen Ponto, Siegfried Buback, Daniela Klette, Burkhard Garweg, Ernst, Volker Staub, Klette, Claudia Ivone, Garweg, Staub, pouncing, ”, Ivone, Wolfgang Kraushaar, Kraushaar, Axel, Andreas Baader, Ukrike Meinhof, Meinhof, ” Kraushaar, Helmut Schmidt, Franz Josef Strauss, Axel Springer, Springer, Alfred Herrhausen, Willy Brandt Organizations: CNN, Red Army Faction, RAF, East, Stasi, Dresdner Bank, Germany’s Public, Office, Police, ARD, ” Reuters, Bild, Red Brigades, Nihon, Springer, Criminal Police, West German Embassy, West, Meinhof Group, Reuters, Democratic, Deutsche Bank Locations: Berlin, West Germany, Kreuzberg, Bonn, Weiterstadt, German, Italy, Japan, West Berlin, Vietnam, Lower Saxony, Stockholm, Bavarian, Cologne, GDR, Democratic Republic

☆ Marco Raduano: Italian mafioso who escaped prison by tying bedsheets arrested during romantic dinner in France
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Rome CNN —An Italian mafia boss who escaped from a maximum security prison last year by using bed sheets to scale the walls has been captured in France, authorities say. Marco Raduano, the 40-year-old boss of the Gargano Mafia in the southern Italian region of Puglia, was caught Thursday outside a luxury restaurant in Bastia, Corsica, where he was dining with a female companion. Also apprehended was his right-hand man, Gianluigi Troiano, who fled house arrest in 2021 after detaching his electronic bracelet. Raduano’s escape by tying bed sheets from his prison window just under a year ago was caught on the penitentiary’s surveillance cameras. The escape lasted 16 seconds and he fled on foot with no guards noticing or giving chase, which led to an internal investigation of the maximum security prison.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, Marco Raduano, Matteo Messina Denaro, Rauduona, Gianluigi Troiano, Raduano, Omar Trott Organizations: Rome CNN, Gargano Mafia, Anti, Mafia, The Spanish Guardia Civil, French Gendarmerie Nationale Locations: Italian, France, Puglia, Bastia, Corsica, Granada, Spain, Bari, Foggia, The Spanish, Vieste, Italy

More than 10 intelligence and police officials in five European countries including Britain, Germany and France told Reuters they are increasing surveillance of Islamist militants. A British security official said the war in Gaza was likely to become the biggest recruiter for Islamist militants since the Iraq war in 2003, and that calls for attacks on Jewish and Western targets had risen in Europe. Two Islamist militant attacks in France and Belgium last month killed three people, and these two countries, Austria, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina have raised their terrorism threat alert levels. LONE WOLVESSecurity officials say the main danger for Europe is probably from attacks by "lone wolves" — assailants who are radicalised, often online, but have no formal links to more established groups. Although a truce has come into effect in Gaza, both sides have said the war is far from over.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, radicalised, Mark Rowley, al, Jochen Kopelke, It's, Kopelke, Israel, Peter Knoope, Knoope, Iman Atta, Germany's Kopelke, influencers, Europol, Thomas Renard, Juliette Jabkhiro, Angelo Amante, Johan Ahlander, Phil Blenkinsop, Timothy Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, London, British, Islamic State, Islamic, WOLVES Security, Hamas, Dutch National, International Centre for, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, BERLIN, Israel, Britain, Germany, Russia, China, Iran, Gaza, Iraq, Europe, Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Italy, al Qaeda, Islamic State, Qaeda, Afghanistan, Syria, United States, British, al, West

☆ More than 200 mobsters jailed in one of Italy’s biggest mafia trials
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Rome CNN —An Italian court has sentenced more than 200 crime gang members to a total of 2,200 years in prison, following the country’s largest mafia trial in three decades. It took the court one hour and 40 minutes to hand down its rulings, Italian news outlet Ansa reported. Among those tried were 42 women – a record for a mafia trial – of whom 39 were convicted. The trial took place in a specially-built bunker in Lamezia Temre, southern Italy, amid safety concerns. Valeria Ferraro/APThe mobsters were affiliated with Italy’s notorious ’Nrangheta crime group and were convicted of mafia association, extortion, bribery and five murders.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, –, ” “, Giancarlo Pittelli, Giorgio Naselli, Michele Marinaro, Gianluca Callipo, Luigi Incarnato, Pietro Giamborino, Valeria Ferraro, Scott, Scott W, Sieben Organizations: Rome CNN, onetime Forza Italia, CNN, Italy’s, United, Italian DIA, Mafia Locations: Lamezia Terme, Temre, Italy, United States, Italian, Calabria

Homeland Security, as well as companies that help identify counterfeit products such as Israel’s BrandShield. Fake weight-loss drugs will be a key focus in the agency’s annual counterfeit medicines report, due next year, the official said. “We have counterfeit products and stolen products,” the official said. "We will look online and if we find something that infringes (obesity drug trademarks) we'll get it taken down,” said Yoav Keren, BrandShield CEO. When a consumer buys those fakes, “what you get are expired drugs, counterfeit drugs, or nothing,” he added.

Persons: George Frey, Eli Lilly, BrandShield, Novo’s Ozempic, ”, Jim Mancuso, Mancuso, Europol, Novo, Lilly, “, Ozempic, Yoav Keren, MHRA, Eli, Mounjaro, Patrick Wingrove, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Novo Nordisk, Pharmacy, REUTERS, Novo Nordisk’s, Pharmaceutical Security Institute, drugmakers Novo Nordisk, Europol, Interpol, U.S . Homeland Security, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, U.S . Department of Homeland, Coordination Center, PSI, Medicines, Healthcare, Agency, Health Organization, Ireland’s, Products Regulatory Authority, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Provo , Utah, U.S, America, Europe, Germany, Egypt, Russia, North America

☆ Elon Musk's X rebuts EU allegations of 'illegal' content about the Israel-Hamas conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Linda Yaccarino: CEO of X speaking with CNBC's Sara Eisen on Aug. 10th, 2023. In a letter posted on X, Yaccarino said that after the Hamas attack on Israel, the social media firm "assembled a leadership group to assess the situation." The CEO also detailed the company's policies around violent speech, synthetic or manipulated media and perpetrators of violent attacks. "X is committed to serving the public conversation, especially in critical moments like this and understands the importance of addressing any illegal content that may be disseminated through the platform," Yaccarino said. This year, the EU introduced the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping piece of regulation that forces online platforms to police illegal content more aggressively or risk huge fines.

Persons: Linda Yaccarino, CNBC's Sara Eisen, CNBC Linda Yaccarino, Yaccarino, Thierry Breton, Elon Musk, Breton Organizations: CNBC, Hamas, European Union, Wednesday, X, EU, Israel, Digital Services Locations: Israel, Palestinian, U.S, Japan, Australia, EU

☆ Europe is investigating Elon Musk's X about Israel-Hamas misinformation, violence on the app
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, said on X that the European Union's executive arm, the European Commission, is investigating whether X is complying with the Digital Services Act. The act went into effect in late August, requiring platforms that have over 45 million monthly active users in the EU to scan for and remove illegal content from their services and to detail their methodologies. Breton sent a letter to X owner Elon Musk expressing concern about the spread of disinformation and "violent and terrorist" content on the service and urging Musk to respond within 24 hours time. "We continue to respond promptly to law enforcement requests from around the world, including EU member states," X said in the letter. "At the time of receipt of your letter, we had not received any notices from Europol relating to illegal content on the service."

Persons: Elon Musk, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Fatih Aktas, Thierry Breton, Breton, Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Linda Yaccarino, X Organizations: Turkish, United Nations, UN, Anadolu Agency, Getty, European, European Commission, Digital Services, DSA, EC Locations: New York, United States, European, Israel

☆ X removes hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts since attack, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is seen alongside the former logo in this illustration taken, July 24, 2023. Breton said he had indications that X was being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the European Union. The recently implemented Digital Services Act (DSA) requires large online platforms, including X and Meta's (META.O) Facebook, to remove illegal content and to take measures to tackle the risks to public security and civic discourse. X has redistributed resources and refocused internal teams to address the rapidly evolving situation, Yaccarino said, without specifying the changes. She added that the Musk-owned company assembled a leadership group to assess the situation shortly after the attack.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Linda, Yaccarino, Thierry Breton's, Elon Musk, Breton, Urvi Dugar, Alex Richardson, Angus MacSwan Organizations: REUTERS, Twitter, European Union, Services, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Israel, Bengaluru

via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The EU's industry chief told Elon Musk that disinformation was spreading on his X messaging platform since Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' surprise attack on Israel, urging him to take counter-measures in line with new EU online content rules. Thierry Breton said on Tuesday he had indications that X, formerly known as Twitter, was being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the European Union. "I therefore invite you to urgently ensure that your systems are effective and report on the crisis measures taken to my team," Breton told Musk in a letter dated Oct. 10 and seen by Reuters. Responding to Breton's X posting, Musk said his company's policy was that everything is open source and transparent. "Please list the violations you allude to on X, so that the public can see them," he said on X.

Persons: Elon, Thierry Breton, Breton, Musk, Foo Yun Chee, Sudip Kar, Gupta, Mrinmay Dey, Chris Reese, Mark Heinrich, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Twitter, European Union, Reuters, Digital Services, DSA, Thomson Locations: Rights BRUSSELS, Israel, Bengaluru

☆ Europe warns Elon Musk about misinformation and violence on X , formerly Twitter, related to Hamas-Israel conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

X CEO Elon Musk leaves a U.S. Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13, 2023. A European regulator has issued Elon Musk a stern warning about the spread of illegal content and disinformation on X, formerly known as Twitter, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Failure to comply with the European regulations around illegal content could result in fines worth 6% of a company's annual revenue. The commissioner said that recent "changes in public interest policies" caused confusion in "many European users." Watch: Elon Musk has "cut off the good guys, empowered the bad guys."

Persons: Elon Musk, Elon, Thierry Breton, Musk, Breton, X Organizations: Senate, Intelligence, U.S, Capitol, Washington , D.C, Digital Services, European Commission, European Union, EU Locations: U.S, Washington ,, Israel

CNN —A Mafia boss who spent nearly three decades evading law enforcement before he was arrested in January has died while receiving medical treatment, according to Italian media reports. Crime was a family affair for Messina Denaro, born to a known Mafia boss in Sicily on April 26, 1962. Among those arrested in the 2009-2010 crackdown was his brother, Salvatore Messina Denaro, who refused to testify about his whereabouts. In 2013, his sister, Patrizia Messina Denaro, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, a term she is still serving, for being a member of the Mafia. Felia Allum, professor of comparative organized crime and corruption at the UK’s University of Bath, said in January that Messina Denaro was the last of an old generation of Mafia bosses.

Persons: CNN —, Matteo Messina Denaro, San Salvatore, Rai, Maurizio de Lucia, Messina Denaro, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Falcone, Borsellino, Giuseppe Di Matteo, Maddalena, Bernardo Provenzano, Salvatore Messina Denaro, Patrizia Messina Denaro, Felia Allum, ” Organizations: CNN, Cosa Nostra, San, Sicilian Mafia, Cosa, Mafia, UK’s University of Bath Locations: L’Aquila, Italy, Palermo, Europe, Milan, Florence, Rome, Messina, €, Corleone, Sicily, Cosa

☆ Brazil Sees Amazon Rainforest International Security Hub Launch This Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Sept. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Ricardo BritoBRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil is preparing to launch a center for international police cooperation to combat environmental crimes and drug trafficking in the Amazon rainforest by the end of 2023, Federal Police officials told Reuters. The center, agreed upon at the summit of Amazon nations in August, will bring together police authorities from the eight countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). Uniting the Amazon countries against criminal activity in the world's largest rainforest is key to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's effort to restore Brazil's environmental credentials after four years of soaring deforestation under predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. "We expect to see a significant reduction in environmental crimes in the area and also action involving the entire Amazon region and not just a few isolated countries," Urquiza said. "There's no point in operating only in Brazil," he said, adding that criminals in the region move around the countries of the rainforest to evade authorities.

Persons: Ricardo Brito, Luiz Inacio Lula da, Jair Bolsonaro, Valdecy Urquiza, Urquiza, Humberto Freire, Ameripol, Freire, Peter Frontini, Timothy Gardner Organizations: Ricardo Brito BRASILIA, Reuters, Federal Police, Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, Federal Police's, Police, Interpol Locations: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela

☆ Scientists found more than 1,000 AI spam bots trying to scam people and steal their social media profiles — and regulators can't keep up
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Shubham Agarwal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

One of the latest is flooding social media with spam bots and AI-generated content that could further degrade the quality of information on the internet. Botnets are networks of hundreds of harmful bots and spam campaigns on social media that can go undetected by current anti-spam filters. We can still detect AI-generated spam — for nowBoth NewsGuard and the paper's researchers were separately able to unearth AI-generated spam content using an obvious tell that chatbots currently have. AdvertisementAdvertisementResearchers look for when these responses slip out in an automated bot's content, whether on a webpage or in a tweet. AdvertisementAdvertisementOne such measure was tagging AI-generated content with a hidden label to help people distinguish it from content made by humans, per the White House.

Persons: Kai, Cheng Yang, Filippo Menczer, Yang, Menczer, ChatGPT, chatbots, Wei Xu, Europol, Xu, Biden Organizations: Indiana University, Twitter, ChatGPT, Indiana University's Observatory, Social Media, telltale, Georgia Institute of Technology, Regulators, Google, Microsoft, House Locations: Indiana

☆ Phishing scams targeting small business on social media including Meta are a 'gold mine' for criminals
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Ellen Sheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

CNBC quarterly surveys of small business owners in recent years have indicated that many do not rate the risk of cyberattack highly, yet the FBI says that in recent years a wave of hacks has targeted small business. Small business owners say social media giants such as Meta have done little to help them address the problem. Malware can target victims through email phishing, browser extensions, ads and mobile apps and various social media platforms. According to SCORE, a nonprofit partly funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, nearly half of small business owners cited social media as their preferred digital marketing channel. And social media accounts of small businesses are like a gold mine," said Joseph Steinberg, a cyber security privacy and AI expert, who sees small business social media accounts as "low hanging fruit."

Persons: it's, Pat Bennett, Pat's Granola, Bennett, hasn't, Pat Bennett Bennett's, Joseph Steinberg, Bryan Palma, Europol, Palma, Cai Dixon, Dixon Organizations: Facebook, Meta, CNBC, FBI, SCORE, U.S . Small Business Administration, YouTube Locations: Cleveland, Europe

☆ AI Scams, Spam, Hacking, Are Ruining the Internet
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Shubham Agarwal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

A report from Europol expects a mind-blowing 90% of internet content to be AI-generated in a few years. A report from Europol, the European Union's law-enforcement agency, expects a mind-blowing 90% of internet content to be AI-generated in a few years. And while AI bots have telltale signs now, experts indicate that they will soon get better at mimicking humans and evading the detection systems developed by Menczer and social networks. While misinformation has long been a problem with the internet, AI is going to blow our old problems out of the water. But security researchers have discovered that the AI bots in your apps and devices might steal sensitive information for the hackers.

Persons: HBO Max, haven't, ChatGPT, Christian Selig, Reddit, Martijn Pieters, He'd, NewsGuard, Gordon Crovitz, NewsGuard's, Filippo Menczer, NewsGuard's Crovitz, Christopher Cowell, Cowell, John Licato, Bing, Florian Tramèr, Toby Walsh, Walsh, Shubham Agarwal Organizations: HBO, Europol, Market, Indiana University's Observatory, Social Media, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, University of South, ETH Zürich, University of New, University of Oxford, Wired, Company Locations: Cambridge, Europol, Portland , Oregon, Etsy, University of South Florida, University of New South Wales, Ahmedabad, India

☆ 62 arrested in Europol-Interpol human trafficking crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, July 24 (Reuters) - Law enforcement from five countries have disrupted an intercontinental criminal network that was smuggling migrants from Cuba to the European Union, with the move leading to the arrest of 62 people, Europol and Interpol, who coordinated the international investigation, said on Monday. A Europol statement said the criminal network focused on Cubans in vulnerable situations, and that for 9,000 euros ($9,969.30), it would organise their journey to Europe and provide false documentation. In total, it is suspected that the criminal network successfully smuggled around 5,000 Cuban nationals into the EU. Besides the arrests, police also seized 18 pieces of real estate, 33 vehicles, and 144 bank accounts, alongside vast sums of cash in various currencies. ($1 = 0.9028 euros)Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Charlotte Van Campenhout, Bernadette Baum Organizations: European Union, Interpol, Thomson Locations: AMSTERDAM, Cuba, Europe

[1/2] A man types into a keyboard during the Def Con hacker convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on July 29, 2017. In an interview this week, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Head Sami Khoury said that his agency had seen AI being used "in phishing emails, or crafting emails in a more focused way, in malicious code (and) in misinformation and disinformation." The same month, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said in a blog post that there was a risk that criminals "might use LLMs to help with cyber attacks beyond their current capabilities." The LLM responded with a three paragraph email asking its target for help with an urgent invoice. Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Steve Marcus WASHINGTON, Sami Khoury, Khoury, cybercriminals, Europol, ChatGPT, Raphael Satter, Chris Sanders, Josie Kao Organizations: Def Con, REUTERS, Reuters, cybercriminals, Centre for Cyber Security, European, Cyber Security, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, U.S, Washington

☆ Encrypted phone service 'Encrochat' shutdown leads to 6,500 arrests - Europol
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] EncroChat and Europol logos are seen in this illustration taken, June 27, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationAMSTERDAM, June 27 (Reuters) - European policing agency Europol said on Tuesday that the takedown of Encrochat, an underground company that offered criminals supposedly secure encrypted communications, led to more than 6,500 arrests and 900 million euros ($980 million) in seized assets. Police have analysed more than 115 million "criminal conversations", Europol said, helping prevent "violent attacks, attempted murders, corruption and large scale drugs transports." Europol said the company had routed encrypted communications through servers in France. "Eventually, it was possible to place a technical device to go beyond the encryption technique and obtain access to users’ correspondence," Europol said on Tuesday.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Europol, Encrochat, Toby Sterling, Christina Fincher Organizations: REUTERS, Police, British, German, Thomson Locations: AMSTERDAM, Europe, Lille, France

☆ More than 30 arrested in latest Italy raid against 'Ndrangheta mafia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Police officers carry boxes into a police building in Mainz, Germany, May 3, 2023, after German police arrested dozens of people across the country on Wednesday in an investigation of the Italian 'Ndrangheta organised crime group, German public prosecutors and state police said. REUTERS/Timm... Read moreMILAN, June 27 (Reuters) - Dozens of people have been arrested in a new police raid against the 'Ndrangheta mafia that has revealed how its multiple illegal activities have spread as far as Austria and Germany, Italian authorities said on Tuesday. Suspects, including politicians from the 'Ndrangheta home region of Calabria, face charges including mafia association, murder, extortion, fraud, rigging of public contracts, bribery and vote buying, police said in a statement. Prosecutors from the German town of Stuttgart and the German federal police cooperated with the investigation, they added. The alleged 'Ndrangheta network ran illegal trades from the south to the north of Italy in real estate, catering, fruit and vegetable and livestock trading, security services and video-poker, Italian police said.

Persons: Timm, Read, Nicola Gratteri, Emilio Parodi, Stephanie van den Berg, Alvise Armellini, Christina Fincher, William Maclean Organizations: Police, REUTERS, Mafia, Prosecutors, Europol, Austrian, Cosa Nostra, Thomson Locations: Mainz, Germany, MILAN, Austria, Calabria, Stuttgart, Italy, Austrian, Europe, Italian, The Hague

Guardia Civil/Handout via REUTERSMADRID, June 1 (Reuters) - Spanish police raided three clandestine tobacco factories early this year, seizing nearly 40 million euros ($44 million) worth of tobacco leaf and illicit cigarettes. This operation is one of dozens across the EU that regional policing and anti-fraud agencies say have driven seizures of illicit cigarettes to record levels. It may have been further accelerated by the war in Ukraine, which for years has been a production hub and transit route for illicit tobacco, OLAF added. TOBACCO INVESTIGATORSThe industry has responded by hiring investigators to research illicit operations and share intelligence with European authorities, executives at Japan Tobacco, BAT and Imperial Brands told Reuters. "A good many workers from Ukraine have been found in these illegal factories," Japan Tobacco's Byrne said about counterfeiting operations across the EU.

Persons: who'd, OLAF, Cyrille Olive, Philip Morris, Olive, Europol, Vincent Byrne, Byrne, Japan Tobacco's Winston, Alex McDonald, Ernesto Bianchi, McDonald, Japan Tobacco's Byrne, They're, they're, Richa Naidu, Emma Pinedo, Emilio Parodi, Matt Scuffham Organizations: Guardia Civil, REUTERS, Spanish, EU, BAT, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Reuters, Marlboro, America's Dunhill, Supplies, Investigators, Mobile, Thomson Locations: Seville, Spain, Guardia, REUTERS MADRID, Alfaro, Europe, Ukraine, British American, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland, Japan, China, Asia, EU, Russia, Belarus, Roda de Ter, Barcelona, Spanish, Italy, Pomezia, Russian, Moldovan, London, Madrid, Milan

CNN —European police carried out raids in multiple European countries on early Wednesday, as part of a probe into the Calabrian Mafia, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor. “This morning, a large-scale European operation took place in several countries. It concerns a case opened by the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, in collaboration with the Limburg Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Judicial Police, Eurojust, Europol and various countries, in particular Italy,” the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. Italian authorities arrested 108 people in Italy as part of a four-pronged investigation into charges of “mafia-type association,” the Italian Carabinieri said in a statement Wednesday. In Belgium, more than 20 raids were carried out as part of the operation, the statement from the federal prosecutor said.

☆ European police arrest more than 100 mafia suspects in drug crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The swoop was part of an investigation spanning Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Romania, Brazil and Panama, according to European Union law enforcement agency Europol. The network was devoted primarily to international drug trafficking from South America to both Europe and Australia, Europol said in a statement. A total of 108 people were arrested in Italy and other EU countries on the orders of police in the southern city of Reggio Calabria, Italian police said. Related investigations led to the arrest of 24 people in Germany, they said, as well as a further 53 detentions in northern Italy. The interior minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia said 18 of the arrests were made there.

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