- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Murcia Today Alicante Today
Date Published: 29/11/2022
ARCHIVED - Cocaine super cartel brought down with arrest of British gang leader living in Spain
The British “kingpin” previously avoided arrest by fleeing his home in the Costa del Sol
Europol has scored a huge coup by bringing down a “super cartel” that controlled around a third of the cocaine trafficked in Europe. The two-year-long investigation, code named ‘Operation Desert Light’, involved the authorities from Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and resulted in 49 arrests.
In all, more than 30 tonnes of narcotics were seized.
Among those arrested was a British man believed to have been the mastermind behind the cartel. According to the Guardia Civil, the suspect fled the Costa del Sol for Dubai to avoid arrest, and continued heading up the operation from there before he was apprehended earlier this month.
Europol said the “drugpins” had formed a “prolific criminal network involved in large-scale drugs trafficking and money laundering”, adding that the scale of their European narcotics dealings had been “massive”.
The initial investigation centred around cocaine smuggled from South America and the majority of the suspects were detained in 2021; however, a coordinated raid across six countries resulted in further arrests between November 8 and 19.
A new agreement with the authorities in the UAE now allows Europol to investigate fugitives hiding out there who would have previously been out of reach, and an official source revealed that a second “big fish” criminal was arrested who has links to notorious Dutch crime boss Ridouan Taghi.
Despite the scale of this seizure, one expert warned that it is “unlikely to have a significant impact on the cocaine market in Europe”. The “resilient market” continues to grow, with an estimated 3.5 million people using cocaine in the past year alone.
Also of interest: Benidorm police arrest one of the most wanted drug traffickers in Europe
Image: Guardia Civil
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