29 Alleged Drug Traffickers Arrested in EU Raids
Law enforcement in Albania and Italy successfully shut down a drug trafficking network that is believed to have been responsible for importing drugs from South America into EU member states.
On 5 November, law enforcement officers raided various locations in Albania, France, Italy, Romania, and Spain. The raids, which were supported by Europol, resulted in 29 arrests (27 of them occurring in Italy, two in Albania) and the seizure of €70 million ($75.5 million) worth of illicit drugs.
The network, allegedly led by two Albanian brothers, was active in the wholesale distribution of drugs in the European Union, according to a press release issued by Europol.
“The illicit drugs were hidden in containers with exotic fruits on vessels arriving in European ports from South America,” the statement said. Once the ships were in the EU, someone would remove the drugs from the containers and then sell them to other criminal networks.
Law enforcement agencies—which also notably included Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption and Anti-Organized Crime Structure, Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Florence—began investigating the organization in November 2021. Since then, more than 2,000 kg of cocaine, 46 kg of hashish, and 20 kg of marijuana have been seized by law enforcement. The investigation also resulted in arrests made prior to the raids on Tuesday.
Because the actors set up a money laundering system to wash proceeds from criminal activities, Europol’s money laundering experts also supported the investigation. These experts cross-referenced data from national investigators, discovering a link between ongoing investigations. A more complete understanding of the network allowed for the action day to occur on 5 November.
“Criminal networks centered solely around Albanian key members are mainly active in cocaine, heroin, and cannabis trafficking, mainly in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. Outside the EU they mainly operate in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and their home country Albania,” Europol reported earlier in 2024 in a report, Decoding the EU’s Most Threatening Criminal Networks.
The report looked at the more than 800 criminal networks that were considered the most threatening groups operating in the EU. According to the report, nearly half of the most threatening criminal groups are involved in drug trafficking as their primary or sole criminal activity.
Legal businesses in the import/export or transportation industries, such as shipping companies, are often targeted by criminal organizations—sometimes the legitimate business is infiltrated by someone working for organized crime, and other times the criminal network will own the business.
“They provide cover to hide drugs, facilitate transport, extract, and store trafficked drugs with a legal front,” the report said. Legal businesses, including ones outside of the transportation industry, are also used to help launder illicit profits.
