In November 2020, the police raided three exchange offices in Malmö. In the trouser pocket of one of the owners of the office, a USB stick was found with transactions from and to two different gangs that smuggled drugs.
"When they are added together, it adds up to SEK 76 million in just under a year," says prosecutor David Ludvigsson at the National Unit against International and Organized Crime.
In the video you can see footage from the police raid on the exchange offices.
Shadowed smugglers to Sjöbo
The suspected money laundering ring began to unravel in the spring of 2020 after the police spied on suspected drug smugglers when they drove a truck to a disused sawmill in Öved outside Sjöbo. When the smugglers unloaded a large amount of cannabis, the police struck.
One of those arrested had a so-called encrochat phone. On the phone there was communication between the league and a person codenamed Voidmint who served as the league's banker.
"When it is possible to identify Voidmint and link him to one of the defendants, we can see where he works," says David Ludvigsson.
In the autumn of 2020, the police raided three exchange offices in Malmö. More than SEK 11 million in cash was found, a large part in garbage bags and cardboard boxes.
Hawala is used by many
The three are charged with aggravated money laundering offenses for the drug money, but also for aggravated business money laundering relating to a hawala operation. Hawala is an ancient method of transferring money, even across borders.
Anyone who wants to send money hands in cash at an office. Then the recipient can collect the money at another office in the world. Hawala is used by people in Sweden who, for example, want to send money to relatives in other countries where it is not possible to transfer money in any other way.
The prosecutor has chosen to prosecute transactions over SEK 50,000, which he believes may be suspected of stemming from criminal activity. In total, this amounts to SEK 113 million.
The defendants deny any wrongdoing. SVT News has spoken to one of the lawyers who does not want to be interviewed, but he says that the defendants' activities have been legal.