Spanish police swoop on Russian mafia

By Humphrey Carter and Reuters

FOUR suspected members of a Russian Mafia, including its alleged boss Gennadios Petrov, were arrested in Majorca yesterday when Spanish police launched a nationwide operation against money laundering by the Russian criminal organisation
Operation Troika against the Tambovskaya-Malyshevkaya criminal organisation was launched by Judge Baltasar Garzon, a high-profile figure who tried to jail former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and over 400 members of the serious crimes squads were involved
Garzon had issued some 30 arrest warrants and at least 20 people had been detained by police on charges including criminal association, money laundering and tax fraud. The organisation is said to be one of the largest Russian mafias in the world.

Those arrested had been residing in Spain for 12 years and several bank accounts were under investigation.
Here in Majorca, armed members of the Guardia Civil and the National police swooped on Petrov's luxury mansion in Sol de Mallorca just after 6am.
Eyewitnesses said that police helicopters have been buzzing the property for the past few days and one flew low over the mansion just minutes before armed police stormed the heavily guarded water-front property catching the inhabitants by surprise.

Petrov and two other people were led away from the mansion and a fourth person was arrested at a property in calle Aragon in Palma.
The police raided a total of five properties in Majorca yesterday.
Police and forensics spent all morning searching Petrov's home and scores of boxes of documents were taken away and three top of the range cars confiscated.

While police continued searching properties in Malaga, Alicante, Valencia and Madrid, the Balearics's top anti-corruption Judges Joan Carrau and Pedro Horrach also inspected the scenes and Judge Baltasar Garzon is due to land in Palma this morning to question the four suspects arrested in Majorca.