24 members of an international drug network, smuggling cocaine from South America to Italy, have been arrested
A five-year investigation has led to the arrest of 24 members of an international drug-trafficking network, Eurojust said Thursday.
The group, based in Albania and Italy, is suspected of trafficking more than 1,300 kilograms of cocaine from South America to Italy through northern European ports. Authorities credited decrypted messages, phone interceptions and controlled deliveries for helping to uncover the network’s operations.
Eurojust said the coordinated actions also seized 3 million euro ($3.5 million) in cash. Previous steps in the investigation had netted over 550,000 euros ($638,000), vehicles and 130 kilograms of drugs, which could have generated roughly 12 million euros ($13.92 million) in street value.
Italian, French, Albanian and Swiss authorities coordinated through Eurojust and Europol to plan the raids and share intelligence. Investigators say the network stored large drug shipments in six Italian warehouses before distributing them and collecting the cash proceeds. Money mules—reportedly bus drivers on the Italy-Albania route—were used to transport profits back to Albania.
Irina Balakireva