SYDNEY - Australian police have arrested seven members of an alleged Chinese crime syndicate for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through one of the country’s largest money remitters, after a giant sting operation involving United States Homeland Security.
Police said on Thursday that the Chinese Long River crime syndicate allegedly laundered A$229 million (S$198 million) through the Changjiang Currency Exchange – one of Australia’s largest independently owned remitters with dozens of shops nationwide – between 2020 and 2023.
More than 330 police officers and other specialists, working with 20 search warrants, arrested seven alleged members of the syndicate, which included four Chinese nationals, on Wednesday across five states.
“This alleged syndicate was operating in plain sight with shiny shopfronts across the country – it was not operating in the shadows like other money laundering organisations,” Australian Federal Police Eastern Command Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto said in a statement on Thursday.
Investigators’ suspicions were first raised when the exchange opened new branches during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was when many of its international tourist and student customers had returned home, according to AC Dametto.
A formal investigation, codenamed Operation Avarus-Nightwolf, began in August 2022 with the help of six other agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security Investigations.
Police allege the syndicate camouflaged the proceeds of cyberscams, illicit goods trafficking and other crime within the exchange’s mostly lawful daily transactions, which were as high as A$100 million. The proceeds allegedly funded an extravagant lifestyle of expensive restaurants, private jets and luxury homes, with one valued at more than A$10 million. Police have quarantined more than A$50 million in assets.
Police also alleged that the syndicate had purchased fake passports, valued at A$200,000 each, in case members needed to flee Australia.
The seven arrested, aged between 35 and 40, will appear in a Melbourne court on Thursday.
In one of the world’s biggest money laundering cases, the Singapore authorities seized over $2.8 billion worth of assets, after police conducted an islandwide blitz in August and arrested nine men and one woman.
Those arrested were originally from China and some were linked to criminal activities abroad, including illegal online gambling and unlicensed moneylending. They were charged with offences including money laundering, forgery and resisting arrest. REUTERS
