Investigation reveals alleged billion-dollar Russian money-laundering ring

Operatives said to be behind a billion-dollar Russian money-laundering network – used by drug dealers, financial criminals and foreign spies – have been sanctioned and arrested in a coordinated international investigation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

- Guardian staff

The UK law enforcement body, which tackles serious and organised crime, said the actions constituted the "most significant money laundering operation" it had undertaken in the past few years. The operation involved America's Federal Bureau of Investigation, France's Direction Centrale de la Police Judiciaire and Ireland's Garda.

The networks are said to have laundered cash and cryptocurrencies for serious and organised crime gangs in the UK and across the west; Russian hacking groups, which extract ransom payments from corporations after disabling their computer networks; as well as "Russian elites seeking to bypass sanctions", including in the UK.

The agency added that the scheme had serious real-life implications, as it was directly linked to laundering drug money made on the streets of the UK.

In total, Operation Destabilise identified the alleged heads of the laundering networks and resulted in the arrest of 84 people plus the seizing of more than £20m in cash and cryptocurrency, the NCA said.