Mounties bust $100M credit fraud ring

MONTREAL, May 9 (UPI) -- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they broke a $100 million international credit card fraud ring in Quebec Wednesday and arrested more than 45 people.

RCMP Sgt. Chris Lamarre told CTV News several early morning raids were conducted in the Montreal area soon after sunrise and at least a dozen suspects were still at large.

Those arrested were mostly of Arab and Sri Lankan descent and police said at least 368 charges would be filed against them, the QMI Agency reported. They include gangsterism, fraud, identity theft and participation in a criminal organization.

RCMP Sgt. Guy Pilon told a news conference the ring was "a well-organized group of criminals who had the means ... and their criminal activities reached well beyond our borders."

The investigation that began in 2008 found links to organized crime in two other provinces, Australia, England, Malaysia, New Zealand and Tunisia, the RCMP said.

Among items seized were more than 12,000 counterfeit bank cards, tools to tamper with card readers, card encoders and embossers, along with $120,000 in cash, the reports said.

Police said they had so far identified 22,000 victims, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.

On one day within five minutes, a team of criminals hit 23 banks with 79 fake bank cards and took out $30,000, the report said.