78 people in connection with the criminal organisation have now been arrested to date.
Gardaí and Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) personnel arrested five people for money laundering offences in Longford after five searches were conducted on Tuesday, 3 August.
The four men and one woman, aged in their late teens and 20s are detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, at Longford, Mullingar and Granard Garda Stations and can be detained for up to 7 days.
Those arrested are being detained on “suspicion of acting as and recruiting money mules” as well as laundering money in bank accounts for a criminal organisation.
Operation SKEIN is a GNECB investigation into a criminal organisation involved in worldwide invoice redirect frauds and the subsequent laundering of the proceeds of these crimes through bank accounts in Ireland.
To date, it is estimated that this crime group has stolen over €15.5 million and laundered near €14 million in Ireland.
78 people in connection with the criminal organisation have now been arrested to date.
A number of convictions have been recorded, with many being put before the courts and charged with offences. Files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Garda Youth Diversion Projects (GYDO) in respect of the rest with more arrests anticipated.
The GNECB is expected to continue to work with local districts and with international Police Forces through Eurojust, Europol and Interpol to target the criminal organisation.
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