2023-05-12 18:29:00
Investigators from several countries apprehended, during searches carried out on Thursday in Serbia, Belgium and the Netherlands, 23 people suspected of belonging to a cartel active in cocaine trafficking, the European Police Cooperation Agency announced on Friday. , Europol, in a press release.
On Thursday, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior had indicated, according to the public channel RTS, that 13 suspects had been arrested in Serbia. Three suspected cartel leaders are among them.
During the operation carried out following several months of investigation, the police raided 35 buildings and seized 15 luxury cars, jewelry and watches worth more than two million euros, three million euros in cash, as well as weapons, explosives and ammunition.
The cartel, described by the Serbian Interior Ministry as “the main criminal drug-trafficking organization in the Balkans”, is believed to be responsible for smuggling more than seven tonnes of cocaine from South America and, in a lesser extent, from West Africa in 2020. In Belgium, 1.2 tonnes of narcotics were seized that year in Hasselt, says Europol.
According to this agency, the gang was also known for its violence and its participation in thefts of luxury goods.
Its dismantling was made possible thanks to the decryption of the communication network, Sky ECC, in 2021. Two years ago, Europol had already arrested seven other members of the clan, in particular in Belgium.
This last crackdown involved the Belgian, Serbian and Dutch police services, while Eurojust facilitated judicial cooperation between the countries concerned, specifies the Europol agency.
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