A money laundering syndicate that allegedly made thousands of suspicious transactions totalling $322million in total has been “smashed” and six people arrested, according to the Hong Kong government.

After several months of investigations, Hong Kong Customs raided four homes in Tai Po and Yuen Long last week. Five men and one woman, aged between 23 and 50, suspected to be involved in the case were arrested for “dealing with property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence” (commonly known as money laundering).

Investigators found the six arrested persons had opened about 60 personal bank accounts at various banks in Hong Kong and had made over 2,600 suspicious transactions involving $322millon (HK$2.5 billion) between January 2018 and February 2020, the government revealed.

 “Among the six arrested persons, four were suspected to be the core members of the syndicate who were engaged in processing suspicious transactions and recruiting others to assist in processing suspicious transactions”, said a government spokesperson. “The other two are youngsters who were suspected to be recruited for engaging in money laundering activities.”

 The authorities have not ruled out further arrests.

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