OCCRP Authorities in Ukraine have arrested a gang accused of selling and trafficking infant children to buyers in the People’s Republic of China. Five infants, all under two months old, were discovered during raids at several properties in Kiev, Ukraine. The country’s National Police said on Saturday that officials with the Department for Combating Human Trafficking, along with local police and agents from Kiev’s criminal division, had conducted searches at…
In late March, a shipment arrived in Romania of a million medical masks — desperately needed goods for a country facing the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic. But relief soon turned to disappointment for medical staff on the front line. The three-ply polyester masks were “crap,” recalled a health worker who declined to be named for fear of losing his job. “We had to throw half of them away. The elastic…
As Italy struggles to pull its economy through the coronavirus crisis, the Mafia is gaining local support by distributing free food to poor families in quarantine who have run out of cash, authorities have warned. In recent weeks, videos have surfaced of known Mafia gangs delivering essential goods to Italians hit hard by the coronavirus emergency across the poorest southern regions of Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia, as tensions rise…
OCCRP Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercrime has grown more than any other criminal activity, a Europol report revealed on Friday. “With a record number of potential victims staying at home and using online services across the European Union (EU) during the pandemic, the ways for cybercriminals seeking to exploit emerging opportunities and vulnerabilities have multiplied,” it said. The mass increase in remote work across the world and reliance on…