DIICOT shot. Enormous amounts of money and gold were discovered at a carrier operating in Iasi. VIDEO

A carrier from Bistrita-Năsăud was arrested yesterday after a series of searches in the country.

The police and DIICOT prosecutors from Iași allegedly discovered gold and silver ingots, 20 kilograms of silver jewelry and tens of thousands of euros at the patron’s home, as well as in other locations, according to Ziarul de Iași.

According to sources in the field, the man would have made a profit despite the fact that he was transporting even only five passengers to the West – but in his coach there were much more valuable packages: contraband cigarettes and jewelry, which he transported through the vents to England .

Following two years of research, the police have announced a ring of 29 suspects, including henchmen who come from children’s homes, according to the cited source.

What the authorities discovered during the searches

Authorities discovered huge amounts of jewelry and money during the searches: 46 gold and silver bars, 104,530 euros, 273,274 lei, 18,284 USD, 300 Turkish liras, 109,167 pounds, 1,865 Scottish pounds, 10,000 forints , 820 Swiss francs, 1,850 Australian dollars, 300 Canadian dollars, 87,900 Norwegian kroner, 480 Swedish kroner, 4,650 Danish kroner, 5,000 Czech kroner, 200 Ukrainian hryvnia, 50,000 Belarusian rubles, two bags and bag of gold and silver jewelry, 20 watch boxes, 800 perfume boxes, 246 coins, two transceivers, a gas gun, 2,800 cigarettes, counterfeit wallets, bracelets and belts, various computer systems and storage media.

“Prosecutors of the Organized Crime and Terrorism Investigation Department – Iaşi Territorial Service filed charges against 29 people and ordered the detention of 6 people and judicial control measures against 9 other people. In the case, it was noted that, from 2021 until now, an organized criminal group specialized in committing the crimes of cigarette smuggling and money laundering, both from smuggling and from other crimes committed by other criminal groups” declared DIICOT representatives.

How the money laundering was carried out by the transport company targeted by the investigation

“The money laundering would have been carried out by transporting very large amounts of money, in cash, from the territory of Great Britain to the territory of Romania, through a series of companies transporting goods and people. The employees of these companies would have taken the sums of money concealed in the luggage and, with the help of the staff employed in the vehicles, would have transported them to Romania, from where they would have been picked up by representatives of the groups that would have committed the crimes, directly or by means of carriages, from Bucharest or from intermediate stations”, the authorities also said.

“The sums of money obtained would have been partially introduced into the civil circuit, through different methods of money laundering, and partially transported to the extra-EU space, through a passenger transport company, as well as with cars. The transport companies would have charged a commission from the total value of the transported money, and, in order to avoid the control of the authorities of the transited states, the money would have been hidden in specially arranged locations in the vehicles. With the same means of transport, contraband activities would have been carried out in an organized manner, the company’s employees facilitating travelers, or bringing different amounts of gold or other products themselves, without paying taxes upon entering the European Union. Thus, in a coach, several bags containing 475 pieces of gold jewelry, with a total weight of 1,591.79 grams, worth approximately 400,000 lei, were hidden in a car component”, DIICOT officials added.