Balkan cartel trafficking cocaine from South America to Europe busted – Connection to Calabrian Mafia

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

A cross-border operation involving law enforcement authorities from Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain, and supported by Europol, on Wednesday, led to the dismantling of a criminal organization trafficking cocaine from South America to Europe and beyond.

The investigation into this criminal network lasted several years, and involved a number of countries. The drug trafficking network was mainly composed of Montenegrin nationals, but also involved citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy and Serbia.

‘Ndrangheta connection

Between 2019 and 2020, law enforcement authorities seized more than 6 tons of cocaine in Aruba, Ivory Coast, Portugal and Spain. Europol stated that the investigations following the seizure in Portugal uncovered possible links between this criminal network and the Calabrian Mafia, known as ’Ndrangheta.

This same seizure led to the identification of 17 new suspects, 13 of whom were Montenegrin nationals. During the course of the investigation, 29 suspects were prosecuted in Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia and Portugal.

On Wednesday, July 27, officers across Europe raided 37 locations (1 in Croatia, 2 in Italy, 33 in Montenegro and 1 in Serbia), arrested 12 suspects (1 in Croatia, 1 in Italy, 8 in Montenegro and 2 in Serbia) and seized expensive watches, bank cards, documents, ammunition and weapons, a vehicle and a speedboat and cash.

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