Law enforcement agents in four countries carried out coordinated raids on Wednesday targeting fraudulent Chinese imports to the EU, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday.
The EPPO-led investigation alleges that criminal networks defrauded the EU of an estimated €700 million through large-scale customs and VAT fraud involving textiles, shoes, e-scooters, e-bikes and other goods imported from China, the EPPO said in a statement. The proceeds were then laundered and sent back to China, it said.
Authorities conducted 101 searches on Wednesday across Bulgaria, Greece, France and Spain, the EPPO said.
Ten suspects, including two customs officers, were arrested, and law enforcement seized €5.8 million in various currencies, 27 vehicles, luxury items, 11 properties, and thousands of shipping containers and e-vehicles, according to the EPPO.
The goods in the scheme were mainly brought in through the Piraeus Port in Greece, investigators said. In 2019, the EU’s anti-fraud investigators found that customs officials at the Chinese-owned Piraeus failed to stop fraudulent imports.
The imports were substantially undervalued or misclassified to evade customs duties, and their destinations were falsified to avoid paying VAT in the country of entry. EPPO alleges the goods were then transported using false documents to France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain, where they were sold on the black market.