A narcotics “super-cartel” that controlled a third of Europe’s cocaine trade has been dismantled by the authorities, who have made 49 arrests in countries such as France and Dubai.
The ‘historic’ multinational operation seized assets worth £21.7 million, including 30 tons of cocaine, supercars, luxury residences, and stacks of cash.
The boss of the organization, according to Spanish authorities, is a “British national” who abandoned his former base on the Costa del Sol for Dubai, where the Kinahan organized crime group is based, after an attempted kidnapping. Later, he was arrested in Dubai.
Officers raided a number of villas in Marbella, Madrid, and Barcelona, as well as the Costa del Sol, according to a source within the Spanish police force.
The international effort also included arrests in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, according to a statement from Europol, the EU’s police agency.
Europol stated that the drug kingpins designated to be high-value targets had formed a “super cartel” that controlled around one-third of the cocaine trade in Europe.
‘The magnitude of cocaine importation into Europe under the suspects’ control and command was enormous, and law enforcement confiscated over 30 tons of drugs during the course of the investigations.’
Europol reported that Dubai had apprehended two ‘high-value’ suspects with ties to the Netherlands, two others with ties to Spain, and two more with ties to France.
The outlet stated that the Dubai crackdown snagged a “big fish” from the Netherlands, who allegedly had ties to reputed Dutch crime leader Ridouan Taghi, who was himself captured in the Gulf emirate in 2019.
“He was as crucial, if not more significant than Taghi,” a Europol source claimed of the Dutch suspect.
The unidentified suspect allegedly formed an alliance in Dubai with the heads of arrested Irish and Italian drug groups, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS.
Ten individuals were apprehended in Belgium, six in France, and thirteen in Spain. Europol reported that 14 additional arrests were made in the Netherlands in 2021 as part of the same operation. In Dubai, six high-level targets were arrested.
During a police search on a series of luxury houses in Spain, more than half a million euros (£433,000) were seized, along with three firearms, high-end automobiles, and fancy wristwatches.
Some of the vehicles, according to the Civil Guard, were worth approximately 300,000 euros (£260,000).
Drug trafficking: The cocaine market
In recent years, the cocaine trade has experienced extraordinary growth, in part due to skyrocketing production levels.
In 2018, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, the three largest producers of cocaine, produced twice as much cocaine as they did in 2013.
Cocaine is transported to Europe via sea and air, although in the past decade, drug traffickers have favored the marine routes, focusing mostly on container trafficking.
The traffickers alter their strategies for concealing cocaine within the millions of containers that arrive in Europe each year.
In recent years, this has resulted in hundreds of tonnes of cocaine reaching Europe.
The availability of cocaine in Europe has never been greater, and its purity and price have never been lower.
Cocaine trafficking in Europe is becoming more appealing to drug gangs than in the United States, in part because the dangers of extradition and asset seizure are lower.
But worldwide drug busts have resulted in authorities seizing unprecedented quantities of cocaine.
In 2020, more than 214 tons of cocaine were seized in the region, a 6 percent rise from the previous year. According to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, this number might reach 330 tons by 2022.
The variety of criminal organizations participating in cocaine trafficking is now “greater than ever.”
In order to make it more difficult for police to locate the ringleaders, drug gangs now subcontract the majority of their operations.
They employ individuals for transporting drugs, assassination, and money laundering.
A Europol-released film depicted agents, including those from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Spanish Guardia Civil, arresting individuals and confiscating luxury vehicles and concealed cash.
Before making arrests, highly armed officers were observed forcing their way into the villas.
Europol stated that the arrests from November 8 to November 19 were the most recent in a string of arrests across Europe that followed a police hack of sophisticated encrypted telephones used by organized criminal networks last year.
Police utilized the SKY ECC phone platform to eavesdrop on conversations between drug traffickers that were ostensibly encrypted.
The majority of the narcotics in question originated from South America via the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp, while others had gone through South Africa.
In Spain, Operation Faukas began in March 2020 with the seizure of 700 kilograms of cocaine in the port of Valencia, according to the Civil Guard.
During the inquiry, police learned that a criminal organization was smuggling cocaine through the ports of Barcelona, Valencia, and Algeciras, according to a spokeswoman for the Spanish force.
“They also determined that a complicated real estate firm had been built on the Costa del Sol in order to launder the drug-smuggling money.
The leader of this organization has been identified as a British man with ties to the Costa del Sol who fled Spain and relocated to Dubai after a failed kidnapping attempt.
From Dubai, he continued to command and coordinate the illegal activities of the organization, while also maintaining drug-trafficking contacts and business interests with the other drug lords stationed in this emirate city.
The Kinahan organized criminal syndicate is headquartered in Dubai, however it is unclear whether the organisation has any connection to these raids.
The operation, coordinated by Europol as part of an international operation codenamed Desert Light, has been dubbed “historic” by the Spanish police.
The spokesman for the Spanish Civil Guard stated, “With this multinational effort by all the concerned agencies, a clear message is being conveyed to criminal organizations: No place is safe for those who attempt to evade prosecution.”
They stated, ‘From Dubai, the bosses of this mega cartel controlled and coordinated the criminal activities of the many cells from a sanctuary where they felt invulnerable.’
Europol considers three of the suspects detained as part of Operation Faukas, the Spanish end of the Desert Light operation, to be high-value targets, according to the Civil Guard.
This morning, it was unclear how many British nationals were among the 49 people detained.
One of the individuals detained in Dubai is believed to be a cocaine supplier from Panama.
A spokesperson stated, ‘He is allegedly responsible for the entrance of drugs into Panama’s Port of Manzanillo, and he also has ties to the rest of Dubai’s drug lords.
The criminal organization centered in Spain had two distinct organizations, one responsible for drug extraction in marine ports and the other for money laundering through real estate companies.
The initial portion was located between the provinces of Barcelona and Malaga and had an immediate impact on Barcelona Port.
It comprised of two Bulgarians, one of whom was a high-value Europol target, and three Spaniards, one of whom was a port employee in Barcelona responsible for the entry and exit of cars.
The other faction consisted of individuals in whose confidence the chief head of the criminal organization placed his faith.
It was headquartered on the Costa del Sol, the hub of its financial activities, where they purchased property worth over twenty million pounds and laundered drug money.
Prosecutors in the Netherlands have stated that they will request the extradition of two suspects from the United Arab Emirates.
One of the suspects was a 40-year-old dual Dutch-Bosnian national suspected of smuggling 1.8 tonnes of cocaine via the German port of Hamburg in 2020 and of preparing to import 8 tonnes of raw materials for amphetamine production via Antwerp, Belgium.
Dutch media identified him as Edin G. and reported that he was on the DEA’s wanted list due to his ties to alleged drug kingpin Ridouan Taghi.
Taghi, who was born in Morocco, was arrested in Dubai in 2019. He is currently on trial in the Netherlands on charges of murder and leading a massive cocaine smuggling organization based in Amsterdam.
The other suspect is a 37-year-old dual Dutch and Moroccan national identified by the Dutch media as Zouhair B., who allegedly smuggled three tonnes of cocaine worth over 200 million euros into the Netherlands.
Additionally, he was suspected of money laundering and possession of firearms.
The investigation into both men was initiated based on decrypted SKY phone messages, according to a statement from the Dutch prosecution service.
It stated, “These are serious criminal offenses involving international drug trafficking, primarily from South America via the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam.”
»British drug lord’s cocaine’super-cartel’ busted in Europe and Dubai; 49 arrested«