John Francis Morrissey, 62, is suspected of laundering 200 million euros in illicit money.
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Police arrested one of the main suspects of money laundering in Europe on Monday, after an operation carried out in Malaga, in the south of Spain, announced Thursday September 15 Europol. The suspect, an Irish-British man suspected of laundering more than 200 million euros in illicit money, has been arrested “as a result of an international law enforcement operation led by the Spanish Civil Guard. Two of his associates were also arrested in Spain and one in the UK”specifies Europol in a press release.
Europol, the European Union agency for police cooperation based in The Hague, does not give the name of the arrested suspect. According to a source close to the investigation, it is John Francis Morrissey, 62, a known international cartel associate of an alleged organized crime boss, Daniel Kinahan. US authorities, who accuse him of drug trafficking, money laundering and violence, recently hit the Kinahan cartel and seven of its members with global financial sanctions.
Morrissey “and his associates were responsible for collecting large amounts of cash from criminal organizations which they then ‘delivered’ to other criminal organizations in other countries”, according to Europol. Thanks to the “hawala”, an ancestral system of financial compensation, “the suspects would have laundered more than 200 million euros using this method”according to Europol.
Morrissey “is one of our high value targets”Europol spokeswoman Claire Georges told AFP. “His arrest comes after a complex investigation by Spain’s Civil Guard who worked with Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), Dutch police and Irish Garda as well as Europol.” who coordinated the international operation.