Twenty million euros snatched in underground banking bust-ups

The police an Public Prosecution seized nearly 20 million euros in criminal money from underground bankers in 2014, the Public Prosecutor reports. Criminals use underground banking to transfer the proceeds of crime out of sight of the government, usually using several intermediaries. The bankers work from shops, businesses or homes and cash couriers often transport the money in shoe boxes, plastic bags or hidden spaces in cars. The police arrested 80 suspects involved in underground banking this past year and seized 16,8 million euro in cash in 53 different investigations. The Public Prosecutor decided to not have all these suspects appear in court and offered a transaction to cash couriers and bankers. 41 of the defendants agreed to the transaction. Between 2009 and 2012 the United states, the Netherlands, Mexico and Colombia investigated international drug trafficking. Six million euros in cash was found in the Netherlands during the investigation. The money was from a large international drug cartel. The police and the prosecution in the Netherlands received 2.3 million euro as a reward for their assistance in this case.