The European police agency Europol announced this Thursday the dismantling of a large South American cocaine import network in Europe, at the end of an investigation carried out from Brazil to Spainpassing through Türkiye, which led to the seizure of 8 tons of cocaine and 40 arrests.
“The criminal network operated from Dubai and Turkey, organizing the trafficking of several tons of cocaine from South America to the entire EU,” Europol explained in a statement after an operation that lasted three years and in which police forces from a dozen countries participated.
The criminal network operated from Dubai and Turkey, organizing the trafficking of several tonnes of cocaine from South America to the entire EU.
According to Europol, the final phase of this operation began with the discovery in August 2023 by the Spanish Civil Guard of 700 kilos of cocaine in a boat manned by Croatian and Italian citizens off the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands.
Based on the analysis of communications and exchanges of information with other police forces, the investigators established a link with previous seizures, which made it possible to identify the people behind them, mainly originating from the Balkans.
In total, 40 people were arrested in six countries in this operation dubbed “Adriatic”, including Spain and Brazil. Two senior Croatian officials of the organization were arrested at the end of 2023 in Istanbul.
The last four arrests were made on Wednesday in Spain, including that of a 40-year-old man in the province of Malaga in an operation covered by an AFP reporter.
According to Europol, police recovered eight tons of cocaine in various operations carried out over the past three years. Numerous assets were also seized or frozen, with a total value of several tens of millions of euros.
Blow to Balkan cartels
“It is one of the largest operations against the Balkan cartels so far,” Tomislav Stambuk, head of the drug control unit of the Croatian National Police, explained at a press conference in Madrid.
It is one of the largest operations against Balkan cartels so far.
Stambuk clarified that This clan consists of “numerous criminal cells”, which is “very active and violent” and which is responsible for half of the cocaine that reaches Europe.
“In the end, they are still groups that operate and dominate areas of Europe,” said Civil Guard Lieutenant Colonel Óscar Esteban Remacha, calling the Balkan cartel an “umbrella” for various organizations.
Robert Fay, head of Europol’s drug unit, welcomed the international cooperation for this operation, but acknowledged concern about the impact of drug trafficking.
“We see attacks, murders, professional murders, shootings that occur almost every day in the European Union, in all European Member States, and this is something that worries us,” Fay explained.
The dismantled network orchestrated “the trafficking of several tons of cocaine from Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador to the EU”.
Its sea shipments “passed through logistics centers in West Africa and the Canary Islands” on their way to Europe.
“Once the drugs had arrived in the EU, the suspects used handling centers in Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy and Spain to continue distributing cocaine throughout Europe,” the text added.
At least one of the Croatians detained in Istanbul acted as a “broker”, as someone who has contacts and acts as a coordinator is known in police jargon.
This broker “had its own suppliers (of cocaine) in Brazil, then it had the infrastructure in West Africa to store it there and later transfer it to the Canary Islands or other points in Europe,” explained Lieutenant Colonel Remacha.
The drug supplier in Brazil was the powerful criminal organization PCC, First Capital Command, the police explained.
