An international organization engaged in duplicating bank cards has been dismantled in an operation involving the arrest of 178 people in 14 countries, Spanish police said Tuesday. The ring, which made off with more than 20 million euros ($24.5 million), also committed other crimes including robbery, extortion, sexual trafficking and money laundering.
The investigation, directed by Spain’s National Court, was launched two years ago in the Mediterranean city of Valencia, where police detected several people forging bank cards to withdraw money from automatic teller machines or to make purchases.
Police discovered that the ring had subgroups based in 14 different countries, each led by an individual who alone had contact with the kingpins.
In Spain, 76 people have been arrested, 120,000 card numbers were made inoperative and 5,000 duplicated cards were seized, while police dismantled six workshops where cards were being copied.
In Romania, 23 searches resulted in 16 arrests, while in France the operation was carried out in three phases that led to 30 arrests and nine searches.
In Italy, two searches ended with seven people under arrest and 3,100 duplicated cards seized.
Another 16 people were taken into custody in Germany, including a man suspected of being one of the most important technicians for creating card-duplicating devices.
Three members of the gang were nabbed in a three-step operation in Ireland, while in the United States another eight people were arrested.
And thanks to information provided by the Spanish police, two suspects were arrested in Australia, another two in Sweden and Greece, three in Finland and four in Hungary.
