Almost 200 people arrested for opening accounts to help a gang with money-laundering

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The illicit money was moved from one bank account to another belonging to the 'money mules' over short periods of time, then "gambled away" in online betting houses as part of the network's money-laundering operations

SUR

Monday, 15 December 2025, 20:24

The National Police have arrested 193 people for opening bank accounts in their own names and allegedly putting them at the disposal of a criminal organisation based in Malaga province, in exchange for a commission, with the aim of laundering the profits from this network of activities. The activities are mostly linked to drug trafficking, fraudulent marketing of nitrous oxide and online scams.

Officers attached to UDEF (the economic and fiscal crimes unit operating from the provincial HQ for this police force) have arrested almost 200 people over the last two years. These arrested individuals served as 'money mules' for a large multi-criminal network. The investigation identified 930 bank accounts associated with those under investigation as being the means used to service the laundering of this dirty money.

This news was reported by the National Police in a statement, in which they pointed out that we have to go back a year to when the 'Halo-Colbe-Naria' operation was carried out jointly by Udyco-Malaga, the Judicial Police from Antequera police station and the UDEF, a police operation in which a criminal network based in the Costa del Sol province was dismantled.

Complex banking network

This gang had allegedly created a complex banking network with the purpose of feeding illicit money from three fraudulent lines of business into the lawful financial system: online scams, drug trafficking (marijuana) and the sale of nitrous oxide - also known as laughing gas.

According to the National Police, the size of the financial network revealed, in the initial phase, the involvement of over 50 people who carried out these banking transactions. They also opened 260 fraudulent accounts with financial institutions, another 210 with online betting sites and circulated more than 2.5 million euros between these accounts.

The operation initially resulted in 43 arrests, including the ringleaders, the seizure of 112 kilos of marijuana and the interception of 4,792 bottles of nitrous oxide.

The investigation has continued to uncover "a wide array of bank 'mules' until reaching almost 200 people who were implicated in this specific role within the organisation". According to the National Police, this has made it possible to establish "how the illicit money from criminal activities was introduced into the accounts of these collaborators".

In practice, the funds were moved from one person's bank account to another over short periods of time and were also sent to online betting sites through money-laundering operations. Thus, the money "was gambled away by simulating legitimate bets in the names of these persons and then the laundered, net winnings were withdrawn to the account of another 'mule'.

This modus operandi made it difficult to trace the money, "since it established a chain of accounts and intermediaries" and the masterminds of the plot always remained "in the shadows", noted the police.

Thus, taking into account all the phases to date in this investigation, the officers involved estimate the flow of money moved by the gang at more than nine million euros, with its operations centred on gambling platforms.

Alleged recruiters

Another seven people were arrested for allegedly recruiting people from marginalised backgrounds to open accounts in exchange for modest commissions.

The actions of such individuals fall "within the criminal category of money-laundering, which means they were carrying out actions that conceal or hide the illicit origin of the money, in this case from the position of an accomplice", stated the National Police. The statement went on to remind the public that "handing over access to an account, whether cryptocurrency, bank or betting house, to third parties can have serious consequences if criminal purpose is proven".

Therefore, they advise "being wary - and never accepting - if someone proposes that you receive transfers and forward them, or that you open a bank, cryptocurrency or gambling account and hand over the use of it to third parties, including the sharing of personal documentation and passwords".