TIRANA, Feb. 15, 2022 – An Albanian-speaking drug trafficking network that had “flooded Europe with cocaine” has been taken down thanks to an international investigation combining judicial and law enforcement officials from seven countries, Europol said Tuesday in an official statement.
Eurojust and Europol supported a series of actions carried out in Belgium and Spain, during which over 80 places were searched and 45 suspects arrested. These include a number of high-value targets, investigated in multiple high-profile cases in different jurisdictions.
The suspects allegedly imported cocaine from Latin America to various European ports, organizing the transport via planes, vessels, cars and lorries and running the wholesale trade. Spain and other EU member states were used to launder the proceedings of their trade, according to law enforcement officials.
More than 600 law enforcement officers in close cooperation with prosecutors and investigative officers carried out raids against the members of this network in Spain and Belgium. A number of parallel actions also took place in Croatia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
All suspects were located outside Albania at the time of the operation, and no police actions took place in Albania, based on the official press release.
“Today’s operation, coordinated at the international level by Europol and Eurojust, was the culmination of many months of meticulous planning between law enforcement and judicial authorities in preparation for the action,” the press release noted.
The high-level criminal network had set up a string of enterprises in various countries to launder the profits, including Croatia and Spain, often using strawmen. Its members traveled regularly to Dubai, Mexico and Colombia to arrange their illegal business and used encrypted communication tools to coordinate activities.
Authorities that took part in the investigation were based in Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States.
