Spanish law enforcement has detained five individuals suspected of being part of a criminal network engaged in the illegal trade of Ukrainian historical artifacts. Several of these artifacts were successfully recovered, including eleven gold pieces with an estimated value exceeding 60 million euros (US$63.44 million).

The European Commission fined for the first time a pharmaceutical cartel, making the members pay a total of 13.4 million euros (US$15.26 million) for coordinating and fixing the minimum sales price of an active medicinal component and distributing quotas.

Among the released individuals is Roland Carreño, a Venezuelan journalist known for his critical stance against President Nicolás Maduro's government. Carreño was arrested in Caracas in October 2020 by the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) on charges of alleged money laundering, financing terrorism, criminal conspiracy, and illegal trafficking of war weapons.

Spanish police detained nine suspected members of an international criminal organization believed to have trafficked drugs, laundered money through shell companies and seemingly legitimate enterprises in the U.K. and Belgium, and sold stolen cars.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on the children of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and four companies under their management, highlighting concerns that the Bosnian Serb region, known as Republika Srpska (RS), is increasingly resembling a Dodik family enterprise rather than a political entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

Russian authorities have detained a Russian-American journalist who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and accused her of failing to declare herself as a foreign agent, a crime that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison in Russia.

Spanish authorities have detained 13 suspected members of a criminal network engaged in illegal animal trade, with a focus on puppies and kittens. Conditions for the animals, about 400 of them, were distressing and led to several deaths.

The European Commission has called for an overhaul of regulations surrounding so-called golden passports whose holders are allowed visa-free access to the EU. In doing so, the Commission revealed that just five Caribbean states had sold 88,000 passports between them. Of those, tiny Dominica had sold 34,500.

The European Union took another step toward banning products originating from forced labor when two committees of the European Parliament in Strasbourg approved proposed legislation this week.

A Belgian court sentenced the leader of a group that smuggled around 10,000 people to the United Kingdom in small boats to 11 years in prison. British authorities arrested and extradited the Iranian-born man who coordinated his smuggling operations from his home in East London, according to the National Crime Agency.