RUSSIAN MAFIA SUSPECTS HELD ACROSS EUROPE
Giles Tremlett in Madrid

guardian.co.uk
Monday 15 March 2010 13.18 GMT

Spanish police confirm operation involving Germans, Swiss and Austrians

Masked members of the Basque regional police escort a suspect arrested
in Algorta as part of a police operation against a Russian mafia
network. Photograph: Miguel Tona/EPA

Police across Europe are carrying out dozens of arrests of suspected
members of a Russian mafia network dedicated to extortion and violent
crime in numerous countries, Spanish police confirmed today.

At least 69 people have been arrested in raids that started over the
weekend, with police claiming that the gang had exported the worst
Russian mafia methods to numerous countries, including Britain. "These
people were prepared to kill if necessary and accepted tasks of that
nature," an anonymous Spanish police source told El País newspaper
this morning.

"The operation is ongoing. There will probably be even more arrests
during the day," a Spanish police spokeswoman said.

Spain’s special organised crime unit was in charge of the operation,
she said, with 24 arrests in Barcelona, Bilbao and in the province
of Valencia. It was not clear where the other 45 arrests were made.

Investigators in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are also involved
in the operation, according to Spanish media.

The arrests were reportedly mostly of low-level foot soldiers in
a mafia network that stretched from Turkey via much of continental
Europe to Ireland and Britain. "This was a group that operated in
various countries," El País’s police source said. The money was
laundered through messenger companies and small businesses set up in
Spain. Those arrested were reportedly from Russia, Georgia and Armenia.

Police have carried out a series of operations against the Russian
mafia and its money-laundering operations in Spain’s corruption-riddled
property sector over the past four years.

Among those to have been detained in recent years is Zakhar Kalashov,
accused of being a senior mafia boss. Kalashov is on bail, awaiting
sentence in a money-laundering trial that was carried out under tight
security and that ended in December.

Spanish investigators complain that courts have been too ready to
grant bail to the numerous alleged Russian mafia members they have
detained. "We had gained a lot of prestige in Europe for our operations
against the Russian mafias and these decisions have thrown part of
that work into the dustbin," the El País source complained.

Alleged leaders of the Malyshevskaya criminal group are among those
to have been released from jail on bail in recent times. Kalashov
himself was released from prison on bail a fortnight ago. Those
arrested today were recorded on phone-taps discussing his potential
release, according to El País.