The Gardai, the national police and security service of Ireland, have arrested nine members of a criminal syndicate specialised in cryptocurrency fraud in the country.

According to the Irish Times, the security agency seized a cryptocurrency sum worth €1.1 million during the arrest. The seized sum is said to be the largest cryptocurrency amount ever recovered from a criminal organisation in the country.

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Though led by an Irish man, the gang is said to be closely linked to the Black Axe, a global confraternity which originated from Nigeria.

Apart from the seized sum, €30,000 linked to accounts belonging to members of the gang was frozen and two vehicles impounded. The ownership and purchase of a property in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is still being investigated.

The group, which operates from Waterford, a city in southeast Ireland, uses bogus text messages when reaching out to its victims.

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“The investigation is also conducting enquiries into persons of varying nationalities, multilinguistic, fluent in a number of languages to deceive their victims both nationally and internationally,” the Garda said on November 21.

In October, the Black Axe was described as the group that runs the biggest criminal operation in the world.