1/3 of Europe’s cocaine trafficked – 49 arrests made in France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, including six ‘barons’
Police have busted a drug “super cartel” that controlled around a third of Europe’s cocaine trade and arrested 49 suspects in various countries, including six “high-value targets” in Dubai, Europol said today.
This extensive international operation led to the seizure of 30 tonnes of cocaine, while arrests were made in France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, added the statement from the European Police Office, which is based in the Netherlands.
“Drug lords, who are considered by Europol to be high-interest targets, had teamed up to create what was known as a ‘super cartel’, which controlled around a third of Europe’s cocaine trade,” he added in the statement. of Europol.
“The extent of cocaine imports into Europe under the control and management of the suspects was massive. And more than 30 tons of drugs were seized by the forces of order during the investigations,” the European agency clarifies, according to which the operation to coordinate the raids was called “Desert Light” and its planning had lasted two years. .
Dubai arrested two suspects of “high interest”, linked to the Netherlands, two others linked to Spain and two linked to France.
“One of the Dutch suspects is an extremely big fish,” a Europol source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
In addition to the six arrests in Dubai, 13 people were arrested in Spain, 6 in France and 10 in Belgium. At the same time, 14 people were arrested in 2021 in the Netherlands as part of the same operation, according to this source.
Dutch prosecutors said they plan to ask the United Arab Emirates to extradite the two Dutch-linked suspects arrested in Dubai.
One is a 37-year-old man with dual Dutch and Moroccan citizenship who is accused of importing thousands of kilos of cocaine into the Netherlands in 2020 and 2021. The other is a 40-year-old man with dual Dutch and Bosnian citizenship, according to the prosecution.
“These are serious crimes related to the international smuggling of narcotics, mainly from South America through the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam,” according to the announcement of the Dutch prosecutor’s office.
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