On March 8, the Spanish Civil Guard arrested five people and commenced investigations against 15 others who were associated with a criminal network that laundered money through companies dedicated to the sale of kebab meat.

The Civil Guard operation, known as “Operation Doner Halal,” was carried out in Barcelona and Alicante, according to reports from La Vanguardia.

The money laundering network was suspected to extend from Spain to Germany, with amounts ranging between 90,000 to 300,000 euros (110,000 to 370,000 USD) exchanged weekly via plane. The documents supporting these money transfers were all from companies dedicated to the sale of kebab meat, but investigations revealed that the companies had no known addresses and were not engaging in actual commercial activity.

According to a report from ABC, the money laundering scheme had gone on since 2012.

This compilation video, released by Guardia Civil and Europol, shows the authorities carrying out their investigation. Credit: Guardia Civil via Storyful