Authorities in Germany, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Ukraine teamed up against an organized crime group suspected of binary option fraud and believed to have scammed people of millions of euros, European law enforcement agencies said.

Europol announced on Wednesday that, in cooperation with German authorities, Romanian police arrested 21 suspected members of a transnational network that smuggled Afghan migrants to Germany and France.

A German tax attorney, and the mastermind behind the so-calledbiggest tax scandal of the century, was arrested by Swiss authorities last week on an extradition warrant. An expert told the OCCRP on Tuesday that like all others involved in the multi-billion affair, Hanno Berger too will say he never broke any law.

The U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested a man for allegedly participating in the shipping of several tons of cocaine from South America to Germany. The agency explained that the suspect had used the encrypted platform EncroChat to communicate with his associates.

German police said they arrested the fifth and last suspect of the 2019 museum heist in Dresden, which saw members of a family-based criminal group loot royal jewelry said to be worth US$1.2 billion.

Authorities in Europe have dismantled several investment fraud schemes across the continent and recovered some of the money victims lost. Confiscation of proceeds from crimes is a strategic priority of the European Union, Europol said.

Italian and German law enforcement agencies arrested 31 suspected members of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia in a joint operation assisted by Eurojust and Europol, the European police agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

German authorities said on Monday that they have shut down "one of the biggest darknet child pornography platforms in the world" which allowed users to share digital material "of the most serious sexual abuse of young children."

Another German politician joined the list of suspects in a corruption scandal involving the procurement of COVID-19 face masks that has rocked the country’s conservatives and prompted the Bundestag to introduce a lobby register.

German lawmaker and member of the ruling Christian Democratic Union, Karin Strenz, died on Saturday while traveling privately from Cuba to Germany. Strenz was implicated in the Azerbaijani Laundromat, a EU-wide lobbying and money laundering scheme revealed by OCCRP in 2017.

Romanian Police uncovered and dismantled Monday a suspected human smuggling organization believed to have tried to smuggle 30 illegal migrants further into the EU from Romania, according to a Europolpress release.

German police arrested eight people aged between 24 and 55 and searched dozens of premises throughout the country as part of a mega operation that targeted right-wing groups allegedly involved in drug and arms trafficking and money laundering.

In what was described as the single largest seizure of cocaine in European history, German customs officials at the Hamburg port have confiscated over 16 metric tons of the drug hidden in three containers that arrived from Paraguay, according to a Wednesday announcement.

German police arrested two people last week and raided over 20 locations in Berlin during a massive operation that targeted members of a family-based organized crime group allegedly involved in arms and drug trafficking, financial crime, museum heists and clan clashes.

On request of German authorities, Interpol on Tuesday added a New Zealand banker to its list of most wanted criminals for his alleged role in a complex tax fraud scheme that deprived European taxpayers of millions of euros.

A multinational operation led by German authorities dismantled on Monday the world’s largest darknet e-commerce site, “DarkMarket,” where vendors traded all kinds of drugs and sold counterfeit money, stolen or counterfeit credit card details, anonymous SIM cards and malware, Europol announced.

German prosecutors discontinued a money laundering investigation against managers at Deutsche Bank in relation with Estonian subsidiary ofDanske Bank due to lack of evidence, the Frankfurt-based German multinational investment bank said Tuesday in astatement.

The ex-CEO of a world-renowned German car manufacturer will this week become the first of the company’s former executives to stand trial over the Dieselgate emissions-cheating scandal.

Russia’s foremost opposition figure has posted a jocular message online boasting of his gathering recovery after he was poisoned with a state-developed nerve agent last month.

A German court announced on Wednesday that formerVolkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and four other ex-employees will face the judge for their role in the so-called ‘dieselgate’ scandal in which the car producer was caught cheating on emission tests.