A 'money mule' is a human courier that is used to foil international money transfers that originate from criminal activities.

In a statement, the authority explains that this operation against money laundering through 'Money Mules', called EMMA8, was carried out for the eighth consecutive year and involved a total of 25 countries.

"Operation EMMA ('European Money Mule Action'), resulted in the overall arrest of 2,469 individuals, the identification of more than 8,755 'money mules' and the taking of precautionary measures that made it possible to avoid the loss of 17,500,000, 00 euros", it reads.

At a national level, 262 people were identified as 'money mules', nine people were identified as recruiters of 'money mules', 64 people were questioned as defendants, 349 bank accounts were identified for illicit transactions, 90 investigations were initiated, 262 victims of crime were identified and a property loss of more than 4,500,000.00 euros was determined.