Today, a team of over 2 000 tax, customs and police investigators from 7 countries has made 5 arrests, carried out over 450 searches, and seized real estate and cars in Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Europol supported the operation code-named Huracán, which was led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cologne after their discovery of a large value-added tax (VAT) fraud scheme concerning the international trade of more than 10 000 cars. The fraudulent turnover of the organised crime group behind the scheme is estimated at EUR 225 million, and the estimated VAT losses caused by the suspects amounts to at least EUR 38 million. The investigation and action day have been supported by the Operational Network @ON funded by EU Project ISF4@ON.
Source: europol.europa.eu
