Regulation enforcement authorities in six totally different nations have joined forces to take down a "tremendous cartel" of medication traffickers controlling about one third of the cocaine commerce in Europe, the European Union crime company alleges.
Europol stated 49 suspects had been arrested through the investigation, with the most recent sequence of raids throughout Europe and the United Arab Emirates happening between November 8 and 19.
The company stated police forces concerned in "Operation Desert Gentle" focused each the "command-and-control centre and the logistical medication trafficking infrastructure in Europe".
Greater than 30 tonnes of medicine had been seized through the investigations run in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UAE with the help of Europol.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration additionally performed a task in bringing down the organisation, which was additionally concerned in cash laundering, Europol stated.
"The size of cocaine importation into Europe below the suspects' management and command was huge," Europol stated, alleging that the suspects used encrypted communications to organise medication shipments.
The Netherlands was the nation the place many of the arrests had been made, with 14 suspects arrested in 2021. Europol stated six "high-value targets" had been arrested in Dubai.
Dutch authorities alleged one of many suspects arrested in Dubai allegedly imported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the Netherlands in 2020 and 2021.
The 37-year-old man with each Dutch and Moroccan nationality can also be being prosecuted for allegedly laundering massive quantities of cash and possession of firearms.
Police began investigating him after investigators cracked the encrypted messaging service Sky ECC, which is well-liked with criminals.
A 40-year-old Dutch-Bosnian citizen was additionally arrested in Dubai following an investigation primarily based on intercepted Sky messages, based on Dutch police.
He's suspected of importing into Europe cocaine and uncooked supplies for the manufacturing of amphetamines.
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File quantities of cocaine are being seized in Europe. Its availability on the continent has by no means been larger, with extraordinarily excessive purity and low costs.
Greater than 214 tonnes of cocaine had been seized within the area in 2020, a 6 per cent improve from the earlier 12 months, and consultants from the European Monitoring Centre for Medication and Drug Habit imagine that quantity may attain 300 tonnes in 2022.