A drug “Super Cartel” that controlled a third of the European cocaine market falls

The European cocaine market, the largest in the world by consumption, is about to reverse course. Europol, the European agency charged with coordinating the police forces of the 27 EU member states, announced early on Monday that had dismantled a drug “supercartel”. responsible for one third of the cocaine entering the European market.

There were 49 detainees in Europe and Dubai in which it was christened as ‘Operation Faukas’, some of them the alleged leaders of the organization, according to Europol’s statement.

The detainees were in Belgium, Spain, France and the Netherlands and the agents were kidnapped 30 tons of cocaine. The cartel dealt in cocaine produced in Latin America and reaching Europe mainly through the ports of Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Antwerp (Belgium).

Reports from the European Agency for Drugs and Drug Addiction have warned of this for years these two ports have long been the primary gateway of Latin American cocaine in Europe, a rare honor traditionally held by Spanish ports.

The “barons”

Even so, the network still used the Spanish ports of Algeciras, Valencia and Barcelona as alternative entry routes to the European market.

Europol’s statement said that “several drug barons, considered high-interest (police) targets, had banded together to form what was known as a super-cartel controlling about a third of cocaine in Europe.”

The statement goes on to explain that “the extent of cocaine importation into Europe under the suspects’ control and command was enormous. More than 30 tons of drugs (cocaine) were seized. by the police during the investigation.

They would have been the six arrested in Dubai senior cartel officials two relating to Spain, two to France and two to the Netherlands. The others were arrested in Europe (13 in Spain, 6 in France, 10 in Belgium and 14 in the Netherlands in 2021, but within this same operation).

The operational part of the dismantling of this cartel, the arrests, was carried out between 8 and 19 November, although Europol did not announce this until Monday.

“Fat Fish”

The Dutch prosecutor’s office already said on Monday that it will ask the United Arab Emirates for the extradition of two people detained in Dubai. One, of Dutch and Moroccan nationality, would be one of the most important figures in drug trafficking in Europe, “a big fish”

Most of the cocaine processed by this network arrived in Europe in containers aboard merchant ships. from the port of Manzanillo (Panama) after several movements in Latin America. The head of the network, an Englishman, would have been one of those arrested in Dubai. The Panamanian who controlled the network in his country would also have lived in Dubai.

The cartel maintained two facilities in the countries where it was based. The operation, which was responsible for receiving the containers arriving from Panama and distributing the drugs throughout Europe. And the administration, which was basically responsible for laundering the money made from that drug.

The downfall of this cartel is due to the major blow European police dealt organized crime in general when they brought down ‘Sky ECC’ in early 2021, an encrypted telecommunications network used by hundreds of criminal groups around the world.

With an application and special phones with which the Canadian company Sky Global would come, communications could be maintained that even the best means of the best secret services did not have access to.

Until that app was taken down and the police forces had access to the data and conversations of thousands of people linked to criminal groups of all kinds, in Europe and in the rest of the world. This data has since been scrutinized and has led to dozens of trades. This Monday is one of the most important.

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