(The Hague) A major police operation has taken down a drug ‘super-cartel’ which controlled around a third of cocaine trafficking in Europe, and arrested 49 suspects in various countries, including six barons in Dubai, a Europol announced on Monday.
The international operation “Desert Light” also allowed the seizure of 30 tons of white powder, according to a press release from the European Police Office, whose headquarters is in the Netherlands.
Between November 8 and 19, 35 people were arrested: 13 in Spain, 10 in Belgium, 6 in France and 6 in Dubai. In 2021, 14 people were arrested in the Netherlands in the same operation, according to Europol.
A video released by Europol showed officers, including American and Spanish, arresting suspects and seizing luxury cars and large amounts of cash.
An arrested Dutch suspect is believed to be an “extremely big fish”, with alleged links to Ridouan Taghi, the Netherlands’ most wanted criminal before his arrest in Dubai in 2019, a Europol source told AFP on condition of release. anonymity.
“The drug lords, considered high interest targets by Europol, had joined together to form what was known as a ‘super-cartel’ that controlled around a third of the cocaine trade in Europe,” according to Europol. .
The cocaine came mainly from Latin America and passed through the ports of Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Antwerp (Belgium).
“The Emirates was a haven for criminals […] but those days are over,” Europol spokesman Jan Op Gen Oorth told AFP, welcoming the cooperation with Dubai.
According to Europol, the United Arab Emirates has arrested two suspects, offering “great interest”, linked to France, two others linked to the Netherlands and two linked to Spain.
The Dutch public prosecutor’s office has indicated that it intends to ask the United Arab Emirates for the extradition of the two Dutch nationals arrested in Dubai.
Two Belgian-Moroccan suspects in their forties, suspected of leading a cocaine trafficking import network from Dubai for the French market, should be handed over to France, according to a French judicial source.
The seizure of 30 tons of cocaine as well as the dismantling of the super-cartel will have “significant repercussions” on the arrival of the drug in Europe, added the Europol spokesperson.
All these arrests follow the dismantling in early 2021 of an encrypted communication network, used by criminal organizations with an application and secure phones marketed by a Canadian company, Sky Global.
“Barbaric Methods”
The investigation also brought to light “barbaric methods, of extreme violence”, with “acts of torture and barbarism” practiced by their armed arms, according to the same source.
Three people arrested in France are also being prosecuted for kidnapping, forcible confinement and acts of torture, in particular on a member of the criminal organization after the theft of goods in Antwerp.
“For the first time”, the investigators have “pushed a wedge” going back to the network heads, who have accumulated “tremendous wealth” and who thought they were at peace in Dubai, according to a source familiar with the matter.
One of the men arrested in Dubai, 37, has dual Dutch and Moroccan nationality. He is presented as Zouhair B. by the Dutch media, and is wanted by the American anti-drug agency (DEA) for his links with Ridouan Taghi, accused of having managed a huge cocaine trafficking network and faces several prosecution in the Netherlands, in particular for murder.
Presented by local media as Edin G, the other Dutch suspect arrested in Dubai is a 40-year-old man who, according to the prosecution, also has Bosnian nationality.
“One of the Dutch suspects is a very big fish,” a Europol source told AFP on condition of anonymity. “He was just as important as Taghi, if not more important. »
In Spain, the Civil Guard specified that a total of 13 people had been arrested in Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga on November 8 after the discovery of 698 kilograms of cocaine in a container at the port of Valencia.