On June 24, 39 people were arrested in Spain, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom after cocaine worth an estimated €45 million was seized from a ship at sea in 2023. The crew of eight were also arrested during that initial seizure. At the same time, a total of 47 house searches were carried out in Bulgaria, Colombia, Norway, Panama, Portugal, Spain and Trinidad and Tobago. Three more people were arrested in the following weeks, bringing the total number of arrests to 50.

Europol has been supporting this investigation since August 2023. On 20 December 2023, authorities intercepted a sailing boat in international waters off the coast of Martinique with 1,500 kilos of cocaine on board. Eight people, including crew members and some involved in other ways, were arrested that same day. Following this operation, Europol, in the context of ongoing intelligence activities with its operational counterparts, was able to gather useful intelligence on the drug trafficking activities of this organised criminal group. This led to further investigations and operational activities involving 10 countries.

The suspects were arrested as part of an international drug trafficking operation led by the Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional). Spanish authorities worked closely with Norwegian police, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (US DEA) as part of an operational task force set up at Europol. The task force’s objective was to tackle a drug trafficking organisation with links to the Western Balkans region, which authorities suspected of shipping large quantities of cocaine to Europe.

10 cocaine ships sail between South America and the EU

During the investigation, agents identified a total of 10 vessels used by the organization along the ‘drug routes’ and that the criminals had various bases in Spain and South America. In Spain, they used Valencia, Alicante, Almeria, Malaga and the Canary Islands as logistical points before heading to South America. In South America, they used Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Barbados or Panama to keep the sailboats ready to sail with the drugs. This system meant that shipments could be sent as soon as orders were received from the leader of the criminal network and his lieutenant.

The cocaine would then be picked up off the coast of the Caribbean by sailing boats that would shortly afterwards sail to Spain, from where the cocaine would be distributed by land transport to various EU countries. The crew of the sailing boats had been recruited in Norway by one of the leaders of the drug trafficking organisation, who had been designated as a High Value Target by Europol. This person was one of the individuals arrested in Norway on 24 June.

International cooperation through Europol to link drug seizures and drug traffickers

This operation was the culmination of many months of meticulous planning in preparation for the final phase of the action. The partners worked closely together in the framework of a Europol Operational Task Force to define a joint strategy and organise the extensive exchange of information.

Europol provided continuous intelligence development to map the targets and their criminal activities. The agency also funded an operational meeting off-site in Madrid. During the action day, a Europol expert was sent to Marbella, Spain, to assist with the rapid analysis of the data collected and to adapt the operational strategy if necessary. In addition, Europol funded the exchange of Spanish and Norwegian police officers for the action day, Europol writes.