Latest news with #OperationSkein
Sunday World
16 hours ago
- Sunday World
Suspect in €94m laundering probe is extradited from the US
Garda's seven-year Operation Skein has led to more than 630 arrests The operation has involved gardaí, Interpol and US law enforcement. Stock image: Getty The extradition from the US of a 44-year-old man who was remanded in custody in Dublin on Monday is the latest development in the gardaí's long-running Operation Skein. The operation by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) has led to gardaí identifying 1,400 potential suspects involved in the theft and laundering of €94m. Gardaí said more than 630 people had been arrested as part of this operation and more than half of these had been charged with gangland offences as well as money laundering. In the latest case, the defendant – who has previous addresses in Clondalkin and Mallow, Co Cork – left Ireland for the states of Texas and Georgia in the US before being arrested by police ahead of his extradition to Ireland. The joint operation involved gardaí, Interpol and US law enforcement. He left Ireland after a book of evidence was served on him at Blanchardstown District Court in December 2018. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear at Dublin Circuit Court in July 2020 and an extradition warrant was later put in place, with investigations establishing he was living in the US. The defendant is charged with possessing €23,625, the proceeds of criminal conduct, and did not apply for bail at yesterday's brief court hearing in Dublin Circuit Court. The offence is alleged to have taken place at an unknown location within the Dublin Metropolitan District in March 2017 and allegedly concerns business email compromise fraud, known as BEC. According to the latest data obtained by the Irish Independent, out of the 1,400 suspects identified by Operation Skein, many used false identity documents to set up bank accounts. The majority of the suspects have been Irish and Nigerian nationals, but a significant number of Italian, British, Portuguese and Romanian nationals have also been identified. Of the 630 people arrested, 110 were arrested for organised-crime offences, with the rest being detained under money-laundering legislation. Around 70 of the suspects who have been arrested were juveniles and have been dealt with under the Garda Youth Diversion Programme and dealt with by special garda juvenile liaison officers (JLOs). To date, 24 of the suspects arrested for gangland-style offences have been charged before the courts and eight of these have pleaded guilty, with most receiving jail sentences. Dozens of money mules have mostly received suspended sentences after being convicted. Gardaí said in a statement that arrests had been made all over Ireland as part of the operation, which has been ongoing for seven years. There has been multiple extraditions from a wide variety of mostly EU countries as part of the investigation but the extradition of the 44-year-old is the first time a defendant has been brought back from the United States. Many international police forces have visited Ireland to study gardaí's pro-active approach to following the money trail and senior GNECB detectives have also travelled abroad to advise their counterparts. The operation has involved gardaí, Interpol and US law enforcement. Stock image: Getty News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday, July 29
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Irish Independent
Suspect in €94m laundering probe is extradited from the US
The extradition from the US of a 44-year-old man who was remanded in custody in Dublin on Monday is the latest development in the gardaí's long-running Operation Skein.
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Man extradited to Ireland from US under Interpol warrant arrested by Gardaí
A man who was extradited from the US on foot of an Interpol warrant was arrested by Gardaí on Monday. Officers attached to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau arrested the man, aged in his 40s, on foot of an extradition warrant under Operation Skein (Jackal) this morning, July 28. The man was extradited from the United States of America with the assistance of Interpol and US authorities and is currently being detained at a Garda Station in Dublin. He is expected to appear before Dublin Circuit Court, Court 5 later this morning. Interpol's Operation Jackal is referred to as Operation Skein in Ireland. Operation Skein is co-ordinated by the Garda Economic Crime Bureau and investigates international criminal organisations that commit fraud worldwide and launder the proceeds through networks of bank accounts in Ireland. The Criminal Courts of Justice, Dublin. (Image: Collins) Since 2020, Gardaí have identified 1,400 potential suspects involved in the theft and laundering of €94 million. To date, more than 630 people have been arrested as part of this operation. Over half of these have been charged with gangland offences as well as money laundering. These arrests were made all over Ireland and conducted by local Gardaí from almost every Garda district. Sign up to the Irish Mirror's Courts and Crime newsletter here and get breaking crime updates and news from the courts direct to your inbox.
Metro
21-07-2025
- Metro
British teens recruited to world's most feared mafia - the Black Axe gang
British teenagers are being lured into joining a Nigerian gang that forces recruits to drink blood to prove their loyalty. Law enforcement agencies warn that the Black Axe gang is preying upon debt-ridden students and professionals working at large organisations, offering them an opportunity to make fast cash. Some are used as 'money mules' who facilitate the transfer of fraudulent money through their bank accounts. Multinational gangs including Black Axe are now responsible for a majority of the world's cyberfraud, according to Interpol. Recruits, who are often male, are first required to undergo an 'initiation' ceremony which involves being stripped, tortured and made to drink blood, before they become 'Axemen'. Not only does the gang target well-healed professionals, many of its recruiters often hold jobs in the IT industry. Detectives say the gang uses Snapchat to distribute registration forms, taking advantage of instantly disappearing 'snap' messages to cover up their fraudulent activities, the Irish Times reported. However, the social network's parent company Snap Inc. insisted content suspected to be illegal is saved and reported to authorities. Black Axe, which operates as a mafia-style organisation, has an estimated 30,000 members across dozens of countries worldwide. More Trending It is thought to take as much as £3.8billion from victims each year through its scams, which also include romance and inheritance frauds as well as phishing and ransomware. Among the recruits of the scheme was 26-year-old university graduate Funmi Abimbola, who was jailed for three years last October for laundering money. The bank worker was said to have had 'many good qualities', but was lured into the crime group, for which he provided bank accounts for the transfer of money. Ireland's Operation Skein has so far identified 1,400 individuals connected to Black Axe. It has prosecuted more than 300 affiliated people, cautioned 39 juveniles, and identified more than 1,000 money mules during the investigation. 'Individuals need to realise that if they act as a money mule, they are interacting with vicious transnational organised criminals', said Garda Detective Inspector Michael Cryan. He added that the gang 'controls' its recruits, demanding that they hand themselves over in the event money is stopped or frozen by their bank. 'People who get involved in this are destroying their own futures because they could go to jail, end up with a criminal record and be prevented from getting jobs.' Forces from 196 countries are also able to draw on data from Interpol, which has created an intelligence database on the gang. Interpol dealt a 'major blow' to the gang after coordinating a huge operation which saw more than 300 people linked to Black Axe and affiliated groups arrested worldwide, including in the UK and Ireland. The probe, codenamed Operation Jackal III, recovered £2.24million in stolen assets including luxury items and cryptocurrencies, and saw more than 700 bank accounts frozen. It also uncovered large transactions to Nigerian bank accounts. A senior official for the multinational crime organisation said that Black Axe were 'early adopters' in money transfer technology. More Trending Tomonobu Kaya said that the rise of fintech banks, which operate digitally and have little to no physical presence, have helped facilitate the quick and seamless transfer of money around the world. In another operation, three members of the same family in the UK were jailed for more than 16 years after being found to have worked with Black Axe's alleged leader. The Nakpodia siblings laundered more than £1million through email and phone scams between 2007 and 2015 for their Nigerian-based brother-in-law Augustus Bemigho-Eyeoyibo. A BBC investigation into the Nigerian gang also found evidence of severe torture and brutality from pictures of dead bodies shared on social media. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page.
Sunday World
01-07-2025
- Sunday World
Two men linked to Black Axe crime network facing multiple gangland and money laundering charges
It follows a major investigation by detectives from the the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) Two male suspects with alleged links to the Black Axe global crime network are due to face multiple money laundering and gangland charges later today. It follows a major investigation by detectives from the the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB). The two men have been among the fraud squad's biggest targets as part of their massive Operation Skein investigation. The Irish Independent has learned the suspects are linked to a huge romance fraud scam where many hundreds of thousands of euro was stolen from an elderly woman in a European country. Investigations have also linked them to a lucrative romance fraud in another country. Neither suspect is expected to get bail when they appear before court later because of the nature of the criminal charges against them. The charges against the men means that so far up to 20 people have been charged with serious gangland style offences as part of Operation Skein and associated investigations. Black Axe has had a significant presence in Ireland for a number of years, but the GNECB has been involved in a large number of arrests and successful prosecutions against gang members and their associates in recent times. The mafia syndicate first emerged in Nigeria the 1970s when it was involved in ritual murders, but has evolved into one of the biggest fraud mobs operating across the world, often recruiting intelligent gang members such as computer specialists in universities. Many international police forces have visited Ireland to study the pro-active approach taken by gardaí in following the money trail. Called Operation Skein, it has led to over 100 arrests under organised crime legislation, while over 400 people have been arrested for money-laundering offences. In total well over 1,000 people have been identified so far with links to Black Axe and the organisation is estimated to have laundered over €84 million in Irish banks. At present, around 50 per cent of all international requests sent to the Gardai are linked to the area of fraud. Around 20 Black Axe operatives have been jailed in this country so far with many more before the courts and 50 senior gang members arrested. Dozens of money mules have mostly received suspended sentences after being convicted. Some of the Black Axe operatives working in Irish financial institutions who have been targeted by the GNECB in recent years include a man working in a bank who checked accounts for the criminal organisation and then sent screenshots of internal bank systems to a more senior criminal, who was involved in laundering huge sums through accounts in that bank. Garda stock image Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 1st
