Eliminated a third of Europe’s cocaine imports in one fell swoop
Law enforcement officers from six countries have joined forces to bust a "super cartel" of drug traffickers that controlled about a third of cocaine flows to Europe, the European Union's crime agency said on Monday .
Super cartel controlling one third of Europe's cocaine trade is taken down
49 arrests following parallel investigations in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UAE with the support of Europol
Blackberries
https://t.co/wzkpoAKAx1 https://t.co/5JBHRdXwDP
— Europol (@Europol) November 28, 2022
Europol said a series of raids (dubbed "Operation Desert Light") between November 8 and 19 in several countries led to the arrest of 49 suspects and the seizure of 30 tons of drugs. The raids were carried out in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates.
"The drug traffickers, considered high-value targets by Europol, had banded together to form what was known as a 'super cartel' that controlled about a third of Europe's cocaine trade," Europol said.
"The scale of cocaine importation into Europe under the control and command of the suspects was enormous and over 30 tonnes of the drug were seized by law enforcement agencies in the course of the investigation," the police agency said, adding that cartel members used a super-encrypted communications network to arrange drug shipments.
The Netherlands has made the most arrests, with 14 suspects in 2021 and six "high-value targets" in Dubai. Shipments of cocaine were imported from Panama in Central America.
“This coordinated crackdown sends a strong message to criminals seeking refuge from law enforcement,” Europol said.
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The article Eliminated in one fell swoop a third of Europe's cocaine imports comes from Scenari Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/eliminato-in-un-colpo-solo-un-terzo-delle-importazioni-di-cocaina-deuropa/ on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 10:00:33 +0000.