A drug cartel with members from Balkan states such as Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia, but based in the Iberian Peninsula, has been busted by Europol, leading to the seizure of 2.7 tons of cocaine.
The narcotics were found during a joint action of police units from Brazil, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland and the three countries from the Balkan peninsula from which the drug traffickers came.
The mega-operation began in January 2022, when the Criminal Police Department of Serbia in Belgrade launched an investigation into the drug cartel, which is believed to be involved in the wholesale trafficking of cocaine from South America to the EU.
Operational intelligence revealed that captains with Ukrainian and Czech citizenship traveled several times to Cape Verde or other countries in West Africa to prepare ships for international drug transport.
The last ship was located in Brazil and burned to the Spanish coast, where Europol forces intervened on August 24, arresting 6 people after searching 15 houses, including the leader of the cartel.
In addition to the load of cocaine, two vehicles and a luxury watch were confiscated, as well as over 550,000 euros in cash. A number of bank accounts and real estate were also frozen.
The head of the hit group was a Serbian citizen, while communications were carried out via encrypted phones with Encrochat, Sky ECC and Anom systems.