Traffickers ‘flooding Europe with cocaine’ laundered money via Colombian football

AGENCIES from eight countries have smashed a drug-trafficking organisation run by Balkan gangsters and Colombian cocaine suppliers who laundered the money via football transfers.

Europol, which coordinated the efforts of eight national police forces in an investigation over three years, described the network as Europe’s biggest cocaine-smuggling organisation.

In all, 61 arrests were made and 2.6 tonnes of cocaine seized, as well as 324 kilos of marijuana, smaller quantities of heroin and amphetamines, firearms and €6million in cash. “It was flooding Europe with cocaine,” Europol said.

The Balkan cartel was made up of people from Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro and included paramilitary elements. It was busted in Spain in March, with 13 arrests as a shipment of cocaine was received near the coast of Catalonia.

In Colombia, the gang was involved in transfers of football players between clubs to launder their illicit gains. In a follow-up operation in May, 48 other members of the organised criminal group were charged in Slovenia for their involvement in the distribution of the cocaine and marijuana in Europe.

Europol described the cooperation between investigators from Spain, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the US and Colombia as “unprecedented”. The delay in releasing the information was due to the need for approval from different agencies.