Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) reported that 30 tonnes of cocaine were seized in an international operation.
The operation led to arrests in Belgium, France, Spain and the Netherlands, including a person reportedly connected to Moroccan-Dutch crime boss Ridouan Taghi caught in 2019, according to France24 reporting.
“The drugpins, considered as high-value targets by Europol, had come together to form what was known as a ‘super cartel’ which controlled around one third of the cocaine trade in Europe,” the EU agency pointed out in a statement.
“The scale of cocaine importation into Europe under the suspects’ control and command was massive and over 30 tonnes of drugs were seized by law enforcement over the course of the investigation,” Europol added.
A video the agency released shows US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Spanish Civil Guard agents seizing assets and arresting suspects.
According to Dutch broadcaster NOS, the suspect from the Netherlands formed connections in Dubai with Italian and Irish drug gangs whose members were also arrested.
Europol stressed that Dubai arrested six “high value” suspects, adding that Spain arrested 13 followed by Belgium with 10 and France with six. It reminded that 14 people were arrested as part of the same operation in the Netherlands in 2021.
Criminals hacked
The agency pointed out that recent arrests took place in the period between 8 and 19 November, after police hacked communication between organised crime groups last year.
Most of the drugs that reached Europe through ports in Antwerp and Rotterdam, with Dutch prosecutors announcing they would call for extradition of two suspects from the UAE.
They pointed out that authorities launched investigations against the two individuals on the basis of hacked communication.
“These are serious criminal offences pertaining to international drug trafficking, mainly from South America,” Dutch prosecutors concluded.
The Spanish Civil Guard noted that 13 people were arrested on 8 November in Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga after nearly 700 kilograms of cocaine were found in the Port of Valencia.
The gendarmerie force stressed that the head of the trafficking operation fled to Dubai after a failed arrest attempt in Spain.
