Happy Holidays (with a CEE crime/spy roundup and other dark reading to get you through)
This week, it's back to a standard crime and spy roundup (which obviously is fitting with the season). And yes, we are going to roam, make sarcastic comments and also (hopefully) render observations astute and aplenty…
But in the meantime (and this is juxtaposition for you), Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and the like…
Which will be the most positive news in this blog post by a mile.
Which means now we're off to...
Albania…
As Yours Truly has mentioned in the past, Albania never fails to provide, and yes, December got off to a quick start with drug busts, mob shootings (probably) and political intrigue galore.
With regard to the former, there seems to be no slowing down when it comes to narcotics trafficking, with Greek police reportedly having busted multiple Albanian trafficking gangs… again thanks to Sky ECC communications (and more on that in a moment).
The modus operandi is seen as similar as those of the past, with hash and cocaine coming from Spain on trucks that were likely carrying fruit products. The end result has been the arrest of 20 persons, the majority Albanians, and the odds are that the group is linked to gang warfare/contract killing as well.
But about the Sky ECC service. By now The Corners readers have come across that service more than once. European cops, Interpol and the US have made great use of what was in the end a disaster for crime groups, who seemed to have believed it could never be broken. Instead, sms’s, mms’s and everything in between—including thousands of communications among Balkan gang members—have turned into a treasure trove for cops ranging from Holland to Belgium to Serbia to Albania and Montenegro.
Only…
Just what does this mean for due process?
And will cases based on Sky ECC eventually fall apart? On the one hand, they seem to have held together with regard to the now infamous Ridouan Taghi Mocro-mafia prosecutions, which landed that crime lord in prison for drug trafficking and murder. On the other hand, various prosecutions against mafia figures in Serbia, for example, remain ongoing, and use of Sky ECC communications has been or likely will be challenged by defense teams there.
[But allow Yours Truly to diverge—it should also be said that the Taghi case indirectly led to the prosecution of nine men (including at least two Poles) for the murder of Dutch journalist Peter de Vries. In that case three were convicted in June of this year, although Taghi, whom Dutch police have inferred ordered the hit, was not included in the prosecution. Now back to regularly schedule programming.]
But why? And how? Traditionally, if a prosecutor wanted to listen in on phone communications or tap emails, a warrant was in order. (And yes, this includes in places like Serbia). Yet the Sky ECC bust was a bit different—everything and everything was suddenly available in a vast, incidental data dump, and cops throughout the Balkans have been digging through ever since.
Or they have been… receiving data dumps from the West.
Which might or might not hold water when it comes time to appeal.
And these are big cases. Think Kavac and Skaljari in Montenegro (and Serbia). Think cases linked to Darko Saric. Tito and Dino. And to Albanians.
We’ll see.
But when it comes to corruption—as Albania in December held an “anti-corruption day” (and what does that even mean?)--there were plenty of editorials, conferences, compliments, etc., including those of the US Charge d’Affaires in Tirana, Nancy Van Horn, who, as cited by Radio Tirana International stated that Albania’s Anti-corruption police (SPAK) are basically doing it right. And maybe they are.
But there are multiple points of view, including this rather sharp-worded editorial that was featured in Gazeta Tema—which hits the Democratic Party of the powers that be rather hard. No further comment necessary. If you are interested, have a read: https://english.gazetatema.net/editorial/why-albanias-democratic-party-should-feel-ashamed-every-december-8-i337690
Belarus
Just what exactly is Belarus up to?
That has been, is and will continue to be the question. The latest news is that Russia is planning to put Oreshnik multiple-warhead missiles in Belarus… like now. Which sounds frightening, especially as Russia has already, supposedly placed nukes in Belarus that are also, supposedly, targeting the West.
And this may be true. Or it may well be bluster.
We’re banking on a 30-70 ration there, but in fact there is usually a little truth to Russian propaganda (unless it is coming from former President Dmitry Medvedev, of course), and for years Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has been attempting to go along with Russian demands while still somehow retaining independence of his increasingly co-opted state. And notice, while Belarus has hosted Russian military, Wagners and allowed strikes from its territory, Lukashenko does seem quite aware that sending Belarussian solders into Ukraine is… probably not in his best interests at home.
But this doesn’t mean that Belarus isn’t up to no good. Which Ukraine knows well.
Which also leads to a bit of news that did make the monstrous staff at The Corners laugh. For in November Ukraine figured out a unique method to deal with Russian drone strikes (which have basically tripled since last year), which has included a combination of hacking, spoofing and generally messing with drone targeting systems while en-route to gradually redirect them to Belarus.
While this has been to a point denied by Belarus (and not actually addressed by Russia), it appears that Belarus has been forced repeatedly to scramble air defenses, and some claims have put the percentage of redirected drones to (occasionally) run as high as 30 percent.
Which is, not only highly entertaining, but also… remarkable.
Belarus can always count on opposition from Poland, whether or not that means a willingness to host the Belarussian government in exile, to support (or to have supported at least) dissident journalism in Belarus, which is now all but destroyed or to attempt to place sanctions against it.
This was indeed the case in late November, when, according to Lithuanian news site delfi.lt, Poland imposed sanctions on middleman company NFT LLC, which has allegedly been aiding Belarussian nitrogen fertilizer producer Grodno Azot in somehow still delivering cheap products to the West.
Poland, to be sure, has not been pleased with said deliveries, as its own producers have been hard hit by a lack of cheap Russian supplies since the beginning of the Russian “special operation” in Ukraine.
Yes, there is a bit of paradox here—and no, the Polish fertilizer biz was not in great shape prior to the war (in part because, yes, Belarus did even back then get far more preferential pricing on nitrogen than did Poland), but that is what war creates. And good on Poland now, as every little effort counts.
Bulgaria
Scammers are getting creative again in Bulgaria, and this one, reported by BNR, is… tricky. In a take-off of standard social engineering games, hackers are breaking into the order information of… Greeks on the net. Once they have this, they fake orders and deliver, well, whatever can be thrown into a box to the doors of Bulgarians with a pay-on-delivery slip. As most people (especially during the season to be jolly) simply pay couriers when they show up with packages, the money flows—and only then they find out that they actually did not order anything at all (and certainly what was not in the box). The interesting trick here is that the case then goes fairly legally to the hacker’s shell company. After all, the package delivered… something, and whether or not it was ordered by the “client,” the “client” did willingly pay for the package, which does make prosecution difficult.
Throw into the mix that such payments are small and prosecutors do not like to chase small claims… it is fairly ingenious.
At any rate, here is the original story. Don’t ask Yours Truly how he knows the real details though.
https://bnr.bg/en/post/102085934
But now for a seconds BNR report—with Bulgarians as a victim, this time of the massive BETL Ponzi scheme, which appears to have cost investors some USD 280 mln. The scam came to light once said investors realized dividends were not in the mix. And here’s a link to that too.
https://bnr.bg/en/post/102086782/ponzi-scheme-scams-bulgarian-investors-out-of-
Now back to mafia news. Bulgarian BTA.bg reported the absolute “largest cache” of illegal weapons and ammo ever seized in Bulgaria in early December, which came as a result of a raid by Bulgarian Anti-organized Crime Police.
In fact, multiple locations were raided (so we are not quite sure that this counts as one record seizure), with hideouts hit in Sovia, Shumen and Vratsa. Likewise, details on weapons seized were not forthcoming… so Yours Truly is doubly unsure, but hey… this one reeks of nostalgia, and nostalgia this time of year is all the rage.
Bulgaria and Britain were abuzz about a supposed/alleged Bulgarian spy team that targeted Russian dissidents in Europe. But not so fast…
Bulgarian?
Not exactly. The leader of the group, Jan “Rupert” Marsalek (and an unfortunate choice of a nickname/pseudonym that) just happened to be Austrian. Then again, other members of the group, which included Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova, Orlin Roussev, Ivan Stoyanov and Bizer Dzhambazov, all do happen to be Bulgarian.
He spy team allegedly targeted Bellingcat journalist Christo G., primarily using the feminine wiles of Gaberova.
And it does appear to have happened in such fashion, as back in London, Roussev, also an alleged leader of the team, has pled guilty along with Dzhambazov.
All are accused of acting in the interests of Russia, although noteworthy is that Gaberova has denied the charges.
So maybe it was true love after all?
Highly doubtful. Intercepted communication reveals that the group had long tracked Christo G., who was a key journo in revealing the Russian plot to poison Sergey Skripal—and they had not only discussed blackmail and kidnapping, but also murder.
But at least with regard to Gaberova (described in communications as a real “sexy bitch”), it would likely have been true sex.
Czechia
We’re going to place this one under Czechia, as multiple news reports from down that way noted that Czech police had participated in a big VAT-scam bust that involved the Italian mafia.
But…
In fact, this was an European investigation that was announced by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), and while indeed this was probably the largest VAT fraud bust ever, in fact (according to the EPPO), not only the Czechs but also 15 other countries took part and made arrests as a result of a massive, cross-border investigation. And to cite the EPPO press release:
“Based on findings from the Admiral investigation, the EPPO uncovered another criminal syndicate suspected of a complex VAT fraud scheme involving the trade of popular electronic goods and creating an estimated VAT loss of €297 million.”
Interesting is that said investigation began back in November 2022. Likewise, according to the EPPO, it indeed “is considered the biggest VAT fraud ever investigated in the EU with a damage now estimated at €2.9 bln,” with this going back to “a criminal syndicate based in the Baltics.”
According to the EPPO, a crime “syndicate” took advantage of EU rules on cross-border transactions between member states, as these are exempt from value-added tax while “selling” some EUR 1.48 bln in popular electronic devices via online marketplaces to customers located in the EU.
“While the end customers paid VAT on their purchases, the selling companies would not fulfil their tax obligations,” the release adds. “By simply disappearing, they would avoid to transfer the amounts due to the responsible national tax authorities. Other companies in the fraudulent chain would subsequently claim VAT reimbursement from the national tax authorities, creating an estimated VAT damage of EUR 297 million.
“The proceeds of this criminal activity would be moved to offshore accounts.”
Sounds like a lot.
But it really sounds like a lot when you consider that the EPPO currently “suspects over 400 companies to be part of this complex fraudulent scheme, which is also believed to have been used for laundering proceeds stemming from drug trafficking, different types of cybercrime, and investment fraud.”
And yes, the investigation also uncovered a “possible Russian organised crime footprint” so there is that.
In the end, some 350 searches and investigative measures were carried out in 16 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain--and 32 people were detained in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, out of which three remain under arrest.
During the searches, law enforcement seized vast quantities of documents and digital evidence, small electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablets, headphones) worth more than EUR 47.5 million, several luxury cars, and EUR 126 965 in cash.
The release added that “in addition, 62 bank accounts were frozen with a value of over EUR 5.5 mln,” and the investigation is still evolving.
Damn.
Lithuania
Much goes on under the dread-black waters of the Baltic. Of course, we’ve all known this since at least 2022, which was back when a series of explosions hit Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.
Theories then went in various directions, and although there have been various investigations… nobody has yet been officially accused of anything—even though newspaper investigative journo types (from the Wall Street Journal, actually) continue to point to a team of Ukrainians, which did not go over well at all.
Especially when one of the alleged saboteurs fled Germany for Poland back in August of this year—at which time Poland’s Prime Minister said the Germans should both “apologize and keep quiet,” also according to the Journal.
Now somewhere in the depths two fiber-optic cables were damaged, although Lithuanian authorities said in mid-November that it’s likely that they were “intentionally cut.”
Once cable linked Germany with Finland, and another linked Lithuania with Sweden. And (Ukrainian theories not withstanding) what is interesting is that back in 2022 Russian ships were seen in the area of where Nord Stream was blown, and this time around a Chinese trawler, the Yi Peng 3, sailing out of a Russian port, was on point at both times the cables were cut.
And while it might seem difficult to cut such cables (Yours Truly was envisioning Bond-era one-man submarines), it appears that all it took was the dragging of an anchor.
So much for cool spy games.
Of course, China has said it is willing to aid in the investigation. But it kind of said the same thing about COVID-19, and we know what a big help they were back then.
Finland, Sweden and Lithuania have all begun criminal investigations. Oddly, the US has stated that it believes the cables were not deliberately cut.
Which is akin to calling the captain of the Chinese ship…
Well…
A dumbass.
Montenegro
Those who believe the Kavac-Skaljari war is a thing of the past are in error… at least as far as police are concerned, as only one week ago police arrested three men likely connected to the Skaljari clan for having allegedly murdered Satko Z., a court witness in ongoing court prosecution against the gang.
Yet… one of those likely apprehended happens to be Dino M., a fugitive accused of trafficking in narcotics being currently prosecuted in Germany.
Locals contacted by The Corners, however, were hardly surprised by the killing, with a Montenegrin-based journalist noting that not only was Satko Z. testifying against Dino M. and the clan, but at one point in the past he had abandoned the Skaljaris…
To join the Kavac’s.
Which in the big picture was not a smart decision.
“The Kavac’s have been been hit hard over recent years, with the Skaljaris killing them [in spades], and they also were targeted by the authorities in both Serbia and Montenegro under suspicious circumstances,” the journo said. “Leaving the Skaljaris for the Kavac’s was a dangerous move, and what is more of a surprise is that Satko Z. did not leave the region.”
He's rather left it now.
Yes, I know. Avid readers are now expecting Do Kwon news.
Well, there is none. He still has not been extradited, and his appeal to remain in Montenegro remains… under appeal.
So there.
Poland
Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslav Sikorski is not one for holding back when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, telling Russian representatives, including the… difficult Russian Minster of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, that Russia has destroyed its future; that it is not fooling anyone and that it is trying to rebuild its empire—before walking about of a UN assembly when Lavrov was speaking only a few days ago.
He also pretty much called Lavrov a liar along the way.
But yes, there is more, Sikorski during an interview with TVP World threatened to close the remaining Russian consulates in Poland after already having closed the Poznan consulate earlier this year over Russian sabotage attempts in Poland.
Hell yeah.
The sea change in 2023 that saw the Law-and-Justice Party finally lose control of Parliament and which brought current Prime Minister Donald Tusk to power continues to play out, with the current Tusk-led KO-coalition forgoing a forgive-and-forget move forward. Various questionable aspects of the PiS reign are in fact under investigation, and one of the more infamous, the Pegasus spyware scandal, promises to produce headlines for some time to come.
For those who may not remember Pegasus, this is manufactured by Israel’s arms company, NSO. Supposedly, it was create to fight crime. Yet somehow it was sold to, well, anyone, it seems, and as (according to Wikipedia), it is “capable of reading text messages, call snooping, collecting passwords, location tracking, accessing the target device's microphone and camera, and harvesting information from apps,” this has been bad news.
As in it was used to spy upon Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashogi, a Saudi human rights activist, prior to his murder and… dismemberment in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey,
Yeah, that kind of bad news.
Its use was also possibly linked to the murder of Mexican journalist Cecilio Pineda Birto. In fact, if you truly want to be appalled, read up on Pegasus in Mexico here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/world/americas/pegasus-spyware-mexico.html
But you really need go no further than Central Europe. Most believe that the current Hungarian government has used Pegasus to spy on political opponents… and journalists, and dissidents… at will. Slovakia under Robert Fico basically enacted a policy of using Pegasus under the secret services against its own citizens… without any kind of warrant from the courts. And to be honest, in Germany it may actually be the same.
In Poland, however, at least there has been blowback—and that blowback continues with Parliament calling former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro on the carpet by an ongoing Pegasus investigative committee. Ziobro has not exactly been forthcoming, with the press noting that he has not appeared before the committee due to health reasons—but also because the current Polish Constitutional Court has said the committee is…
Unlawful.
That court is staffed with PiS appointees so maybe this should have been expected, but…
A Polish parliamentary investigative committee unlawful? Since when? Poland has long specialized in such committees. Going back here have been said committees over the PKN Orlen affair, the PZU affair, the Rydzyk affair, the Smolensk disaster, and going forward there have been Russian activity committees, Belarussian activity committees…
Committees in Poland is what politicians do. Bottom of Form
Ok, to try to be fair, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal argued that the Pegasus committee was improperly formed—which is akin to saying that Ziobro and others will not get a fair shake… and there could be a bit of truth to this.
Still…
The alleged use of Pegasus in Poland is not pretty. This comes according to the Citizen Lab NGO, which has been all but groundbreaking in such issues, and it includes:
- The hacking of opposition groups by Pegasus spyware (and who would bother, really, apart from the reigning government).
- The use of Pegasus against no less than 578 persons—and this came from Poland’s prosecutor general—by the Military Counterintelligence Service, the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and the Central Anti-corruption Bureau (CBA).
- The spying on lawyer Roman Giertych, as well as on Prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek.
- The hacking into the phones of a Civic Platform (PO) senator.
- The apparent mass hacking of phones belonging to the Polish Supreme Audit Office (NIK) in which 544 of its employees were hacked… more than 7,000 times.
But hey, it was used against some criminals too.
Romania
So if you have not been following Romania…
And yeah, I get it, maybe that has not been a priority of late…
The country had a presidential election…
And suddenly out of (almost) nowhere, there arose a certain ultra-nationalist Calin Georgescu, who whipped up on everyone with 23 percent of the vote.
And won.
Only...
Those pesky Russians…
Again…
And actually, as you might guess, it was not quite that simple. First, it turns out that Georgescu benefitted allegedly through campaigns on TikTok and Telegram, thanks to Russian support. This ranged from the above mentioned campaigns to… highly controversial financing—and declassified documents that allegedly revealed the depth of the stink. This prompted real outrage among opponents, and the Romanian Constitutional Court ruled…
To run the whole thing over.
Only it ruled this with votes still ongoing.
And this did not exactly go down well with anyone.
True, Russian meddling in elections (just have a look at Georgia) is often beyond the pale. On the other hand, the declassified docs indicated that much of what actually took place came in the form of a very coordinated social media campaign, which, frankly put, was highly successful. On the one hand, if this was organized and paid for by a foreign actor, this is a problem. On the other, people read, see, listen… and then they go vote, and there does not seem to indication that actually vote rigging at the ballot box took place.
So what to do…
Especially as Geoergescu cried (like a voice shouting in the wilderness) that Romanian democracy was under attack?
Ah right, we already covered that. You run the whole thing over again.
Only, a bunch of voters (like nine million) did vote.
And re-running will be difficult for the parties that ran the first time in terms of time, energy and money.
And… the security services of pretty much any country are not exactly to be trusted…
Even liberal opponent Elena Lasconi has said as much.
But hey, there is more: according to Politico, Tik Tok influencers involved fled the country as soon as tax authorities decided to check the reality of their… influence. And mercenaries with guns have been arrested.
And—not to steal Politico’s thunder, check out the link: https://www.politico.eu/article/romania-tiktok-election-calin-georgescu-elena-lasconi/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
But yes, there is more, according to The Romanian Insider, as Geoergescu has now admitted that yes, he has met with mercenaries in the past. Or at least he has been at the same place at the same time as have they. And said mercenaries have since been detained with all kinds of weapons.
Yikes!!!
And if you want to read that one, have a look: https://www.romania-insider.com/romanian-calin-georgescu-admits-meeting-mercenary-legionary-leaders-2024
At any rate, the rerun will be interesting.
Miscellaneous…
Contrary to tradition, I’m going to end this blog a bit early this time around. In truth, I’d planned for more, but investigative jobs and asset traces (hey, a detective has got to make a living) have cut into my time. But to round out the news, Serbia and Kosovo are still bickering (and this bickering reached a fever pitch over a canal explosion that took place weeks ago in Kosovo—and both sides blamed each other); the Belgrade water front continues to generate ugliness, with an alleged member of the infamous Darko S. mafia having “defended” the water fronts real estate project in the way that would have been expected from his ilk (and yes, this is the same water front project with the bizarre middle-of-the-night demolition history, and which is seen to have long been backed by Serbian President Aleksander Vucic).
Then there is Slovakia, where officials do not walk out on Russia’s Lavrov, but instead make an effort to go meet with him…
And finally, there is Ukraine, which continues to lose ground; which was again bombarded with drones and missiles this week, and which faces the spectre of diminished aid from the US starting next year.
Yes, sometimes even I, an avowed cynic, do despair.
Slava Ukrainii, God bless and Happy Holidays to you all.
Preston Smith is a licensed investigator based in Gdansk, Poland. He can be reached at query@cddi.pl.