In Brussels, Europol and the European Network of Fugitive Active Search Teams (ENFAST) launched the new EU Most Wanted campaign. This year it focuses specifically on important members of criminal organizations who are on the run from the justice system.
On the EU Most Wanted Website More than fifty new profiles have been posted of people who are all wanted for serious crimes such as murder, human trafficking, armed robbery and terrorism.
This year’s campaign specifically targets the leaders and key figures of criminal organizations. “Some of the people on the list are mob bosses who have killed innocent people, drug traffickers, human traffickers, criminals who murder or commit acts of violence for criminal organizations, money launderers and fraudsters.”
The list includes two persons wanted by the Belgian court. Felix Omorgie is the leader of a criminal organization that smuggled young women, including minors, from Nigeria to Italy. Then they were scattered across European countries where they were forced into prostitution. Omoregie decided where the victims ended up and got the income from prostitution. He has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and is seen as dangerous.
Crisanto Pinkihan Attolbag was sentenced by the court of assizes to 15 years in prison for murder in April 2013. In 2005 he had stabbed taxi driver Raul Simeon at Zaventem airport. He is said to have fled to his home country of the Philippines, while a trial at the Court of Cassation awaited him.
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One small action could mean arresting and indicting a dangerous fugitive, saving potential victims.
According to Europol, criminal organizations, like companies, consist of administrative and executive levels. “There are a number of people who provide services to the organization around this. By taking out the criminals in critical positions, we hope to bring down the entire organization.”
EU citizens can lend a helping hand by visiting the ENFAST website and seeing if they recognize anyone on the Most Wanted list.
“One simple act can be enough to ensure that a dangerous, runaway criminal is arrested and prosecuted,” said Catherine De Bolle, director of Europol.
Following the launch of the campaign, the first of a series of murals was unveiled in Brussels. They show a house of cards, an image that refers to the idea that a criminal organization can be shaken if one member, one card, is arrested.
ENFAST is the network of teams of national police forces within the European Union that are specialized in tracking down convicted criminals who have fled. Since the EU Most Wanted campaign and website was first launched in 2016, 335 profiles of wanted criminals have appeared on the site.
120 of them have been arrested in recent years, and in 43 cases the arrest was the direct result of the publication of the wanted person’s profile on the website. Ten wanted persons have been arrested since the last campaign started in December 2021.
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