January 18, 2018
The police have cracked down on an international organised crime ring that operated illegal call centres in an operation that has gone on for months, reports the STA on January 18, 2017. An international investigation culminated in house searchers across Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic on Thursday.
According to media reports, 36 people have been apprehended in the sting, but they were mostly Chinese and Taiwanese victims of the ring, which is said to have used them for carrying out telephone frauds.
Chief investigator at the Maribor police department Robert Munda said at today's press conference that five Slovenian and three foreign citizens had been detained and that it had not been determined yet whether any of them were victims.
Munda said that the suspects had rented several apartments in Slovenia in 2015, where they placed foreign citizens and restricted their movement.
The suspects also installed the telecommunication equipment the victims needed to carry out telephone frauds.
The results of the investigation show that they operated at least eight such centres in Slovenia, with media reporting that the biggest one was located in Ljubljana. Another is said to have been located in a garage that recently burned down in Maribor.
Munda said it was assumed that the fraud had been carried out in a similar manner as in a recently exposed case in Spain.
The call operators obtained ID numbers from people and then tried to persuade them to transfer their money to "safe accounts". Most of the victims of the fraud were from Asian countries.
Eleven house searches and five car searchers have been conducted across Slovenia today, with the Slovenian police collaborating with Interpol and Europol as well as Chinese and Taiwanese law enforcement authorities.
Radio Slovenija reported that some sources had said today's operation has led to a diplomatic glitch between Slovenia and China over the use of Taiwanese interpretors, which violates the One-China policy.
According to these sources, the Chinese ambassador to Slovenia has complained about the incident to Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec. However, sources from the Foreign Ministry have rejected these claims.
The investigation in Slovenia is led by the Specialised State Prosecution, with the police carrying out house searches in the areas covered by the Maribor, Ljubljana, Celje and Kranj police departments.
Some 150 investigators and police officers took part in today's sting led by the Maribor investigators.
Munda said this was the first encounter of the Slovenian police with such type of crime.
According to media reports, 36 people have been apprehended in the sting, but they were mostly Chinese and Taiwanese victims of the ring, which is said to have used them for carrying out telephone frauds.
Chief investigator at the Maribor police department Robert Munda said at today's press conference that five Slovenian and three foreign citizens had been detained and that it had not been determined yet whether any of them were victims.
Munda said that the suspects had rented several apartments in Slovenia in 2015, where they placed foreign citizens and restricted their movement.
The suspects also installed the telecommunication equipment the victims needed to carry out telephone frauds.
The results of the investigation show that they operated at least eight such centres in Slovenia, with media reporting that the biggest one was located in Ljubljana. Another is said to have been located in a garage that recently burned down in Maribor.
Munda said it was assumed that the fraud had been carried out in a similar manner as in a recently exposed case in Spain.
The call operators obtained ID numbers from people and then tried to persuade them to transfer their money to "safe accounts". Most of the victims of the fraud were from Asian countries.
Eleven house searches and five car searchers have been conducted across Slovenia today, with the Slovenian police collaborating with Interpol and Europol as well as Chinese and Taiwanese law enforcement authorities.
Radio Slovenija reported that some sources had said today's operation has led to a diplomatic glitch between Slovenia and China over the use of Taiwanese interpretors, which violates the One-China policy.
According to these sources, the Chinese ambassador to Slovenia has complained about the incident to Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec. However, sources from the Foreign Ministry have rejected these claims.
The investigation in Slovenia is led by the Specialised State Prosecution, with the police carrying out house searches in the areas covered by the Maribor, Ljubljana, Celje and Kranj police departments.
Some 150 investigators and police officers took part in today's sting led by the Maribor investigators.
Munda said this was the first encounter of the Slovenian police with such type of crime.
