![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/01\/drug-austalia.jpg\" "\\"drug-austalia\\"")
Sydney (AFP) – Australian police revealed Thursday they had cracked a major global money-laundering ring with operatives in more than 20 countries and funds syphoned off to groups reported to include Hezbollah.<\/p>\nSydney (AFP) – Australian police revealed Thursday they had cracked a major global money-laundering ring with operatives in more than 20 countries and funds syphoned off to groups reported to include Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
The Australian Crime Commission said more than Aus$580 million (US$512 million) of drugs and assets had been seized, including Aus$26 million in cash, in a year-long sting codenamed Eligo targeting the offshore laundering of funds generated by outlaw motorcycle gangs, people-smugglers and others.<\/p>\n
According to the ACC, the operation had disrupted 18 serious and organized crime groups and singled out 128 individuals of interest in more than 20 countries, tapping information from agencies including the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.<\/p>\n
Eligo saw 105 people arrested on 190 separate charges and resulted in the closure of three major clandestine methamphetamine labs and Australia\u2019s largest-ever urban hydroponic cannabis hothouse in Sydney last November.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe task force focused on high-threat money laundering activities and, as a result, revealed a range of different crime types which has led to these extraordinary outcomes,\u201d said Australia\u2019s Justice Minister Michael Keenan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeizing more than $550 million worth of drugs and cash is a significant blow to the criminal economy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Legitimate international cash wiring services were a major focus of the operation, with the government\u2019s anti-laundering agency AUSTRAC saying they had been identified as at \u201chigh risk of being exploited by serious and organized crime groups\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to a Fairfax media expose on the operation, criminals targeted foreign nationals and students in Australia awaiting remittances from overseas, hijacking the transaction by depositing dirty money to the payee and then taking the cash wired from offshore.<\/p>\n
Fairfax said at least one of the exchange houses used in the Middle East and Asia delivered a cut from every dollar it laundered to Lebanon\u2019s powerful Shiite movement and Syria ally Hezbollah, which is banned as a terrorist organization in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just never-ending,\u201d said ACC acting chief Col Blanch. \u201cWe were regularly finding bags of $500,000 and $400,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organized crime is estimated to cost Australia Aus$10-15 billion per year by the ACC, with drugs, money-laundering, fraud, firearms and high-tech cyber offences the major issues.<\/p>\n
Profits from transnational organized crime were estimated at US$870 billion in 2009 — the latest available data — according to the ACC\u2019s 2013 report into the sector. That represented about 1.5 percent of global GDP at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sydney (AFP) – Australian police revealed Thursday they had cracked a major global money-laundering ring with operatives in more than 20 countries and funds syphoned off to groups reported to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-15825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-terrorism-a-fundamentalism","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n