Crime gangs targeting universities and tech companies to recruit ‘drug mules’

 • 4h ago

Organised crime gangs are going into universities and tech companies to recruit “drug mules,” a top garda has warned.

Detective Chief Superintendant Pat Lordan, who heads up the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, said money mules remain a major issue for officers, as they are an integral part of any crime organisation’s success.

“We worked with banks to look at money mules. We found they are among the most important people.

“Gangs go into universities, social media companies, wherever they can, to gather money mules.” Det Supt Lordan said.

He said the crime gangs hire ‘herders’ to take control of mules. These individuals act as “gophers to collect the mules” for crime gangs.

Det Supt Lordan gave a detailed speech on the issue at the European Anti Financial Crime Summit at the RDS in Dublin last week.

The summit was attended by delegates from across the financial system and by Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe.

Working with Interpol, gardaí were able to link money laundering activities back to “more or less one gang,” who, Det Supt Lordan said, are responsible for a huge amount of money laundering.

“We came across money mules as young as 14,” he said. “95 per cent of them are complicit. They know what they’re doing is wrong.”

He described how organised crime leadership correspond regularly by WhatsApp.

Breaking down how the gangs’ business works, he said: “They talk about what countries are weak and strong. They have internal workers in (financial) companies, whether it’s in IT, finance, or online booking platforms. They’re working in your companies.”

Describing the type of people who end up involved with crime gangs, he said: “Some are active, some passive.

“We know it from looking at mule accounts and herder accounts. We look at a man working in a bank. We search his house with a warrant, we find he’s been working in a bank, or online platform and feeding information (to a gang.)”

Insiders were telling crime gangs which accounts were safe to deposit laundered money and warning of any accounts with ‘red flags’.

This meant gangs were updated at all times of where to deposit their ill gotten gains.

“The insider threat is people you employed, brought into your company. They are now a threat to you,” he told the summit.

He warned employers to look into their staff accreditations, their CVs and to establish they were trustworthy. “Do you bother checking references?” he asked.

For anyone questioning Ireland’s reputation and the amount of organised crime here, he said the point was moot.

“We have lifted the bonnet and seen what we have, we are doing a lot of work with colleagues in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium,” he said.

“We are educating some of those countries on what to look for, it’s really working. With support from Interpol, we are having massive success.”