Danish police say criminal networks are moving billions of kroner out of the country through so-called underground banks, and a new DR documentary premiering today traces the money.
Money from drug trafficking and other crime has been channeled out of Denmark through informal networks that leave no paper trail, DR reports. The assessment comes from the National Unit for Special Crime, NSK. According to the unit, the networks play a decisive role in running drug operations in Denmark.
Torben Svarrer, leading police inspector at NSK, tells DR that organized criminals have become almost dependent on the system. Smuggling Danish cash abroad has grown too expensive because of exchange costs. Criminals therefore hand over kroner in Denmark and collect euros in another country.
How the networks operate
Underground banks function as an international network of people who arrange cash deposits and payouts across borders without a digital trail. The system is also known as hawala. Svarrer says it can run out of almost any business, in principle a kiosk operating it as a sideline.
Danish police have increased their focus on the money flows behind organized crime in recent years, DR reports. The shift followed the decryption of encrypted messaging services used by criminal groups. Once investigators gained access to those messages, it became clear the underground banks were a billion-kroner business.
Lucy Myles, head of Europol’s financial crime unit, tells DR that the networks are an enormous threat to security in the European Union. She says they undermine the banking system and the wider economy in the EU. Hitting the networks, per Myles, paralyzes organized crime and is Europol’s ultimate goal.
Many of the investigations are the result of cooperation between police forces in several European countries, according to DR’s reporting. Even so, Svarrer says the work becomes harder once the money leaves Denmark. That is particularly true when funds move to a country outside the EU.
Cases lead across Europe and beyond
Svarrer notes that the problem applies to all forms of cross-border crime. Each country has its own legislation to take into account, which can act as a barrier to investigations. That obstacle exists despite established cooperation through Europol.
The two-part documentary “Undergrundsbanken” follows the money trail in a series of cases. According to DR, the trail leads to Turkey, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Syria. Both episodes are available on DRTV.
DR published photographs from Danish cases, including cash seized when police searched a Danish underground bank. Another image, drawn from evidence in the same type of case, shows how operators and customers communicate through encrypted messaging services. The material was provided by Dansk Politi and by DR and Monday Media.
