Operation Serengeti, a joint operation with Afripol, the African Union’s police agency, ran from Sept. 2 to Oct. 31 in 19 African countries..reports Asian Lite New
Interpol arrested 1,006 suspects in Africa during a massive two-month operation, clamping down on cybercrime that left tens of thousands of victims, including some who were trafficked, and produced millions in financial damages, the global police organization said Tuesday.
Operation Serengeti, a joint operation with Afripol, the African Union’s police agency, ran from Sept. 2 to Oct. 31 in 19 African countries and targeted criminals behind ransomware, business email compromise, digital extortion and online scams, the agency said in a statement.
“From multi-level marketing scams to credit card fraud on an industrial scale, the increasing volume and sophistication of cybercrime attacks is of serious concern,” said Valdecy Urquiza, the Secretary General of Interpol.
Interpol pinpointed 35,000 victims, with cases linked to nearly $193 million in financial losses worldwide, stating that local police authorities and private sector partners, including internet service providers, played a key role in the operation.
Jalel Chelba, Afripol’s Executive Director, said in the statement: “Through Serengeti, Afripol has significantly enhanced support for law enforcement in African Union Member States,”
Serengeti’s results were a “drastic increase” compared to operations in Africa in previous years, Enrique Hernandez Gonzalez, Interpol’s Assistant Director of Cybercrime Operations, said. Interpol’s previous cybercrime operations in Africa had only led to 25 arrests in the last two years.
“Significant progress has been made, with participating countries enhancing their ability to work with intelligence and produce meaningful results,” Gonzalez said. In Kenya, the police made nearly two dozen arrests in an online credit card fraud case linked to losses of $8.6 million. In the West African country of Senegal, officers arrested eight people, including five Chinese nationals, for a $6 million online Ponzi scheme.
Chelba said Afripol’s focus now includes emerging threats like Artificial Intelligence-driven malware and advanced cyberattack techniques.
Other dismantled networks included a group in Cameroon suspected of using a multi-level marketing scam for human trafficking, an international criminal group in Angola running an illegal virtual casino and a cryptocurrency investment scam in Nigeria.
Interpol, which has 196 member countries and celebrated its centennial last year, works to help national police forces communicate with each other and track suspects and criminals in fields like counterterrorism, financial crime, child pornography, cybercrime and organized crime.
The world’s biggest — if not best-funded — police organization has been grappling with new challenges including a growing caseload of cybercrime and child sex abuse, and increasing divisions among its member countries.
Interpol had a total budget of about 176 million euros (about $188 million) last year, compared to more than 200 million euros at the European Union’s police agency, Europol, and some $11 billion at the FBI in the United States.
LeT member facing Interpol notice extradited to India
A member of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) facing an Interpol Red Notice was extradited to India from Rwanda on Thursday in an operation coordinated by the NIA and the CBI, officials said.
Salman Rehman Khan, an alleged member of the internationally proscribed terrorist organisation, assisted in providing arms, ammunition and explosives to further terrorist activities in Bengaluru, they said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) lodged a case in 2023 related to criminal conspiracy to spread terror in Bengaluru in which Khan was suspect, they said.
An FIR was also registered against him at the Hebbal police station in Bengaluru.
Khan, who was previously imprisoned in a POCSO case (2018–2022), allegedly facilitated the collection and distribution of explosives for other terror accused after being radicalised and recruited during his incarceration by T Naseer, a life convict in a terror case, according to the NIA probe. Naseer allegedly orchestrated the radicalisation and subsequent criminal activities to further LeT operations in the country, besides plotting his escape en route the court from the prison, the agency said.
When the terror module was busted, Khan managed to give agencies a slip and escaped from the country, it added. The NIA chargesheeted Khan under the stringent anti-terror law and the Indian Penal Code while the court declared him a fugitive,” the NIA said.
“On NIA’s request, the CBI got a Red Notice issued against the subject from Interpol on August 2, 2024. It was circulated to all the law enforcement agencies globally for tracking the wanted criminal,” a CBI statement said.
Based on the notice, he was apprehended by authorities in Kigali, Rwanda, on September 9, officials said. The information was passed on to the CBI which is the designated agency for coordination of Interpol affairs in India and the NIA.
India placed an extradition request with Rwanda on October 29 following which an extradition order was signed on November 12, according to news reports published in the local media there.
“The Global Operations Centre of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) closely coordinated with the NIA and Interpol National Central Bureau, Kigali, for the return to India from Rwanda of Salman Rehman Khan, wanted by the NIA for terror-related offences,” a CBI spokesperson said in the statement.
The return of Khan is the latest in a series of recent operations held in coordination with Interpol, wherein two accused — one wanted by the CBI and another by the Kerala Police — were brought back from Saudi Arabia.
Barkat Ali Khan facing an Interpol Red Notice was wanted in a 2012 case of rioting and use of explosive substances. He was brought back from Saudi Arabia on November 14.
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