Greek police have apprehended Erik Roveta, a 47-year-old Italian tanker broker, for his involvement in an international criminal network trafficking oil from Latin America worth $21bn. Roveta had an outstanding international arrest warrant from the Venezuelan authorities. He was arrested in his mansion in Varkiza – a small coastal town and a suburb of greater Athens by Greek police officers from the Attica Security Directorate. A red notice issued by Interpol, requested by Venezuelan authorities, claimed that the organisation loaded oil products from Latin American ports under the guise of legitimate shipping companies. The criminal network is alleged to have smuggled hydrocarbons in a plot called PDVSA-Cripto. The operation included the acquisition of satellite devices and ship identification systems enabling control evasion from Venezuelan ports. They relayed satellite and identification devices procured from decommissioned ships in Asian ports, placed them on their tankers, and deactivated the devices during transport, thereby deceiving the charterers. Roveta appeared before the prosecutor in Athens and now faces judicial proceedings and possible extradition to Venezuela. PDVSA-Cripto was revealed in March 2023 and pointed to important former Venezuelan government officials and more than 20 businessmen in alleged illegal oil sales. Transparency Venezuela, an NGO, had access to some testimonies regarding the case and the organisation claimed that 53 people were investigated regarding the case, 12 of which had an arrest warrant at the time. Last month, media reports stated that an Argentine citizen identified as Jorge Germán Bonelli would be extradited to Venezuela after having been arrested on March 21 as part of the PDVSA-Cripto investigation. The Argentine Ministry of Security claimed that the detainee was presumably linked to the Maduro dictatorship. The ministry also stated that Bonelli was part of a corruption network that involved senior officials of the Venezuelan government such as former vice president Tarek El Aissami. Bonelli was also identified as the operator and frontman of another fugitive “of Italian nationality” – presumably Roveta – who was described by the Ministry as the main member of the organisation. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsGreece Venezuela