A man, aged 20, was arrested at Dublin Airport on Friday evening after being detained in Romania on foot of a European arrest warrant in January.
A garda statement said: “As part of an ongoing Garda Economic Crime Bureau investigation into a criminal organization, Gardai have arrested a male, aged in his 20s, at Dublin Airport this evening, Friday 4th February 2022.
“The male was detained in Romania on the foot of European Arrest Warrants in January 2022.”
He has now been charged and is expected to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice this morning.
This arrest is part of Operation OMENA, a Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) led investigation into a gang alleged to be involved in fraudulent selling on second hand websites across Europe and the subsequent laundering of the proceeds of these crimes through a network of bank accounts opened by using false Identities and money mules.
It is estimated that this criminal organisation had stolen over €22 million from victims all over Europe up to the end of 2022 and laundered €6,770,026 of this money through bank accounts in Ireland in the periods between 2017 and 2020.