The police in Murcia and Granada have been investigating a gang of money launderers.They think that they are well on the way to dismantling the whole gang after arresting five Spaniards and one African.
The scam involved the sale of second hand cars to Central Africa in order to purchase diamonds.The money was transferred from a Spanish bank account to financial institutions in Africa and the diamonds bought were sold on the black market in Europe.
Diamond imports and exports are strictly controlled by the governments of the countries where the stones are mined ,but the gang had allegedly smuggled nearly a million euros’ worth of the stones into Europe without paying customs and excise duty.They took cheques for the sale of the used cars made out to “el portador”( the bearer) so that the origins could not be traced.
Other arrests have not been ruled out.
