Operation Destabilise - Russia, Organised Crime And Illicit Finance

10th December 2024

A Russian-speaking money laundering network uncovered by the UK's National Crime Agency shows the clear links between organised crime, sanctions evasion and hostile state activity.

You would be forgiven for thinking that this week's news from the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the multi-billion-dollar Russian-speaking money-laundering network that it has broken up is actually the script for a new Netflix drama. It has all the makings of a blockbuster.

At its heart are two linked criminal networks, Smart and TGR. These groups provide professional money-laundering services to numerous organised criminal groups operating in the UK and elsewhere. They collect the cash proceeds from street-level drug dealing and exchange it for cryptocurrency, which can then be used by the gangs to purchase drugs and firearms. The cryptocurrency itself is sometimes the product of other criminal activities, notably ransomware, enabling cybercriminals to exchange the proceeds of their crimes for cash. Everyone gets what they want - a perfect vicious circle of crime and money.

Smart and TGR facilitate money laundering on a vast scale. In one example, two individuals associated with the network and who have now been arrested by the NCA managed a cash courier network in the UK which laundered over £12 million in just 74 days. The groups offer services to sanctioned oligarchs, Russian elites, ransomware operators and organised criminal groups, including the notorious Kinahan cartel, allowing them to move money around the world with ease and impunity. The funds that were laundered were used to conduct Russian espionage activities in Europe and to further the spread of Russian mis- and disinformation, undermining the safety and security of the UK and its allies.

The Russian-speaking criminal diaspora in the UK, and in other countries, has vastly extended the reach of the Russian state

As Rob Jones, the NCA's Director General of Operations, stated in the press release accompanying the details of the case, ‘for the first time, we have been able to map out a link between Russian elites, crypto-rich cyber criminals, and drugs gangs on the streets of the UK'.

[url=https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/Operation+Destabilise+Russia+Organised+Crime+and+Illicit+Finance+09122024142500]Read the full RUSI article HERE[/url]