Franco-Serbian Money Laundering Ring on Trial for Smuggling Millions to Morocco

The case dates back to June 15, 2017. Law enforcement officers had arrested two Lebanese residents of Germany in an Audi A6 carrying one million euros in cash. The Specialized Interregional Court (JIRS) of Nancy was seized with the case, with a suspicion of money laundering from international drug trafficking, reports Le Télégramme.

The vehicle had made five trips in France. A clan of Lebanese is involved in this case. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the American narcotics police, managed to track them down. These suspects were about to pass two million euros through a French network. A person from Nantes is suspected. The gendarmes of the Research Section (SR) of Angers are in charge of conducting an investigation opened by the JIRS of Rennes. The Nantais was later cleared of all suspicion. But the investigators were able to dismantle a Franco-Serbian money laundering network based in Seine-Saint-Denis. The "business providers" are of Mauritanian origin. Those who use their services include drug traffickers, business leaders, company executives and merchants.

In the aftermath, a man is suspected of having organized a cocaine trafficking between France and Australia. According to the investigators, the drug would be bought in the Netherlands and hidden in empty cans bought discreetly in Corrèze (as well as a crimping machine), and sent by parcel to a friend living in Australia. "This file is based on a web of assumptions. No marked bills and no drugs were seized from my client and his relatives," fumes the lawyer of this defendant, May Vogelhut. She intends to plead for acquittal.

The network laundered nearly 10 million euros in three to four months for about sixty clients, and charged a commission ranging from 18% to 30% depending on the destination countries of the funds (Dubai, Morocco, Libya, etc.). In total, more than 500,000 euros in commissions were collected. The network also duped some entrepreneurs and merchants by passing off counterfeit 500, 200 and 100 euro bills. After the dismantling of this network, 11 defendants are being prosecuted for money laundering in an organized gang (or in connection with the possession, transport, supply or transfer of narcotics) for the transport, circulation and possession of counterfeit currency.