Romanian Organized-Crime Prosecutors Apprehend Card Forgery Suspects

The Court of Dolj County ordered Thursday night that the group of 12 males and one female be taken into custody.

According to Adrian Gluga, head of the Department for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism, or DIICOT, in Craiova, southern Romania, hearings went on all night.

Prosecutors ordered 37 simultaneous searches, which took place Thursday morning in Bucharest, Dolj County and Olt County.

The searches yielded EUR30,000, 20,000 lei (EUR1=RON4.1532), 40 computer hard disks, laptops, 800 memory cards, 20 mobile phones, ten cameras, over 80 credit cards, three air and gas guns, 150 SIM cards, ATM card readers, skimmers, electronic devices used for making skimmers, bank transfer papers and identification licenses. In one location, police found over 200 liters of bootlegged liquor.

The group allegedly assembled skimming devices, which were then sold to other users or employed by group members operating in Italy. They allegedly made use of confidential banking card information for illicit cash withdrawals, both in Romania and abroad. According to investigators, the group members perpetrated criminal activities in Italy, Germany, Sweden and Romania from April 2009 to May 2010.

The 13 people apprehended are currently investigated for setting up a crime group, unlawful access to a computerized system, unlawful circulation of private information, as well as for possession, assembly and distribution of forged payment instruments.

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