Operation Desert Light: Europol take down massive cocaine ‘super cartel’

According to police, a drug “super cartel” that was in charge of almost a third of Europe’s cocaine supply has been broken up. 49 persons were detained as part of Operation Desert Light, which involved six different European nations, according to Europol, the EU’s police agency.

One of them, a British national, is thought to be the operation’s leader. According to Europol, more than 30 tonnes (30,000 kg) of drugs were recovered during the two-year investigation.

Authorities from Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Operation Desert Light collaborated to dismantle the cartel, according to a statement from Europol. Six “high-value targets,” or those most sought after by international law enforcement, were among those detained.

The “drugpins” had established a “prolific criminal network engaged in large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering,” according to Europol. The size of the narcotics operation was described as “vast” in the addition.

It is the most recent in a string of police initiatives to access encrypted phones used by organised crime networks to smuggle drugs and launder cash. The majority of the arrests were made in the Netherlands in 2021, where cocaine imported from South America via the Netherlands was the main subject of the investigation.

According to Europol, the other raids took place earlier this month, from November 8 and 19, during planned operations in the other six nations. Teams of detectives and sniffer dogs were seen investigating homes filled with luxury cars in a video uploaded to the agency’s YouTube page, although it is not apparent if they found anything.

Data from the previous ten years, according to analysts, suggests that Europe’s annual access to cocaine is rising.  With an estimated 3.5 million adults using the substance in the last year, crimes involving cocaine use or possession are also on the rise.

The biggest stash of cannabis ever recovered was found earlier this month during a series of searches by Spanish police. The quantity of packaged marijuana discovered amounted to roughly 1.1 million plants.

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