Spanish police have arrested 28 suspected members of the Russian mafia operating a network along the Spanish coast to launder money.
Police in Germany, France, Belgium, the United States, Russia and Israel had helped in what the Interior Ministry said was the biggest crackdown ever against international organised crime in Europe.
Police seized guns, luxury cars, jewels and works of art, as well as impounding several properties on the Mediterranean coast and freezing 800 bank accounts in the operation, codenamed “Wasp”, the ministry said.
Of those arrested, 22 were believed to be mafia chiefs who set up fraudulent commercial and financial networks and bought property. The aim was to launder cash from illicit activities in their home countries, mainly former Soviet states.