Balkan Cartel Busted: Eight Tons of Cocaine Seized, Dozens Arrested Across Europe

European police forces have arrested around 40 individuals in a prolonged operation targeting a significant drug smuggling cartel, resulting in the seizure of eight tons of cocaine, Europol announced Thursday.

The cartel, with leaders based in Turkey and Dubai, suffered a major setback following a final series of arrests on Wednesday, according to the Hague-based police coordination agency.

Oscar Esteban Remacha, head of the anti-drug trafficking unit at Spain’s Guardia Civil, stated at a news conference in Madrid that the network had “the capacity to transport tons and tons of cocaine all over the world.”

Europol released images and a nearly 10-minute video on Thursday, showing K-9 dogs and officers uncovering bags of suspected drugs and detaining multiple suspects. The video also captures a boat being intercepted at sea, with officers unloading bags of suspected narcotics.

The final phase of the operation commenced in August 2023, when the Guardia Civil discovered 1,540 pounds of cocaine on a boat off the Canary Islands, crewed by Croatian and Italian citizens. Spain, due to its ties with Latin America and proximity to Morocco, serves as a major entry point for drugs into Europe.

Upon sharing their findings with other police forces, investigators identified connections to previous seizures, leading to the identification of the cartel’s leaders. Europol indicated that many network members were from Balkan countries.

Approximately 40 individuals were arrested across six countries, including two top Croatian members detained in Istanbul late last year. The last four arrests occurred on Wednesday in Spain.

An AFP journalist reported that heavily armed Guardia Civil officers arrested a 40-year-old suspect during a dawn raid at his home in Marbella, a Mediterranean seaside resort.

“This is one of the biggest operations against the Balkan cartels to date,” said Tomislav Stambuk, a Croatian police officer, at the news conference. “Serious assessments are that the Balkan cartel is responsible for the supply of more than half of the cocaine in Europe.”

Europol noted that the network’s assets, valued at several tens of millions of euros, had been seized or frozen. The smugglers transported cocaine from South America to logistical hubs in West Africa and the Canary Islands, before distributing it to centers in Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

The bust occurs amid a surge in cocaine production, according to Robert Fay, head of Europol’s narcotics department. Cocaine seizures at European ports have reached record levels, and Fay expressed concern over the rise in drug-related violence across the continent.

“We see bombings, killings, professional assassinations, shootings happening almost every day in the European Union,” Fay said.

The arrests in Spain follow the country’s “biggest-ever seizure” of crystal meth, 1.8 tons, attempted by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel last month.

Globally, other major cocaine busts have been reported. Recently, Colombian naval officers seized two semisubmersible vessels carrying nearly five tons of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded $63 million worth of cocaine in Florida after a high-speed shootout in the Caribbean Sea, and the French Navy confiscated 2.4 tons of cocaine from a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean.

Colombia remains the world’s largest cocaine producer, responsible for about 60% of global production.