‘Second in command’ of Hackerville gang’s Irish operations extradited back here

• Yesterday 20:51

A woman suspected of having been the second in command of the ‘Hackerville’ crime organisation in this country has been extradited back to Ireland.

The 34-year-old Romanian national was brought from Dublin Airport to Ballymun Garda Station where she remained detained tonight.

She is expected to be brought to a court sitting on Saturday where she is due to be charged with six counts of money laundering and the alleged use of four different false ID documents to open bank accounts.

The woman has been at the centre of a major investigation by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) which was codenamed Operation OMENA.

Many of her close associates have been jailed either here or in other EU countries for fraud related offences.

The male criminal who was ranked just one place above her in the gang’s hierarchy is currently in prison in Romania and is expected to be also extradited back to Ireland.

GNECB investigations have established that around €160,000 in laundered money went through bank accounts controlled by her that she had set up with the false IDs.

It has been established that a total of almost €7m had been laundered in Irish bank accounts by the ‘Hackerville’ mob – one of Europe’s most prolific fraud gangs.

She and some of the other main ringleaders of the gang were based in the Artane area of north Dublin when they were engaged in their crime spree.

After leaving Ireland in 2018, the extradited woman and some of her closest associates relocated to Finland where they all ended up serving jail sentences for organised fraud related crime.

Apart from Finland, senior sources say that the woman has criminal convictions in Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy.

“She was a very significant player while based in Ireland,” a senior source said last night.

Even though she is not from the Romanian city of Râmnicu Vâlcea, sources say they are closely associated with many gang members from the city which has been nicknamed ‘Hackerville’.

The central Romanian city earned its dubious title because over 90 of its inhabitants have been arrested as part of a major EU crackdown on the fraud mob.

It is understood that the woman did not fight her extradition back to Ireland and is expected to be remanded in further custody tomorrow.

Gardaí previously announced details of their investigation into the mob.

“Operation OMENA is intelligence led Garda National Economic Crime Bureau investigation into a criminal organisation involved in fraudulent selling on second hand websites across Europe and the subsequent laundering of the proceeds of these crimes through a network of bank accounts opened using false identities and money mules,” a garda spokesperson said at the time.

“It is estimated that this criminal organisation had stolen over €22m from victims all over Europe up to the end of 2020 and laundered €6,770.026 of this money through bank accounts in Ireland in the periods 2017-2020,” they added.

Operation Omena was launched by the GNECB to target fraudsters who operated by advertising caravans, tractors, farm machinery, vintage cars and designer watches on selling websites across Europe.

The gang were also heavily involved in rental frauds across Europe.

Because of GNECB investigations, sources say that the gang have been basically run out of Ireland and they do not use our banking system for money laundering anymore.

A 31-year-old criminal who was extradited back to Ireland last year as part of the gardaí’s massive investigation into the ‘Hackerville’ gang was jailed last December for two years and eight months for his role in the complex fraud scam.

Daniel Semen became the 10th criminal to be convicted as part of detailed international police operation led by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) which was codenamed Operation OMENA and there has been a number of others since.

Other criminals who have been busted as part of the GNECB investigation include Dragos Costa (37) who was given a two and a half year jail sentence in the UK after being extradited there from Ireland after his arrest here.

“This is very much an international investigation that is very much ongoing,” a senior source added last night.

Radu Agapie (28) was jailed for four and a a half years in January 2020 after he pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to five counts of control of fake Polish and Hungarian identification cards, four counts of using fake documentation to open bank accounts and three counts of money laundering on dates between July 2018 and July 2019.

A month later, another gang member Contantin Dirlescu (31) was jailed for three and a half years after pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to six counts of using false passports to open bank accounts and four counts of operating accounts for money laundering on dates between January 2019 and July 2019.