European police have apprehended a continent-wide gang that smuggled millions of prescription pharmaceutical tablets into nations such as Finland and Norway, the EU’s legal office announced on Friday.
According to Eurojust, 47 people were arrested and more than 6 million pills were recovered during the operation, which was carried out by Estonian, Finnish, Romanian, and Serbian police.
“The criminal group, which operated throughout Europe, bought pills from other criminal networks in Serbia,” the Hague-based law enforcement agency said in a statement.
“The pills, used to treat anxiety, seizures and insomnia, were then hidden in tires, in cars, which were transported on lorries, and in clothing, to be taken to Romania,” according to the report.
They were then smuggled into Estonia and other countries like Finland and Norway, where gang members “acted as distributors and sold the pills on the streets.”
Eurojust assessed the street worth of the seized tablets at $13.6 million. Eurojust and Europol organized a huge police operation on Thursday, which resulted in the arrests. 61 addresses were checked concurrently in Romania, Serbia, and Finland.
Eurojust said that police confiscated firearms, mobile phones, and luxury cars during the investigation.
According to a Europol assessment on criminal networks released in April, the majority of Europe’s most dangerous gangs are now concentrated on drug smuggling, specifically cocaine, cannabis, heroin, and synthetic narcotics. According to Europol, cartels, mafias, and gangs across Europe have used fruit companies, hotels, and other legal businesses as fronts for their operations.
Last month, Europol and Eurojust announced that they had successfully dismantled an encrypted communication infrastructure designed to enable illegal behavior. The Ghost platform was used for “large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, instances of extreme violence, and other forms of serious and organized crime,” according to Europol.
In July, Spanish police revealed a Europol-backed operation to disrupt a major network smuggling Latin American cocaine into Europe by boat, resulting in 50 arrests in eight countries.
Europol published a video showing officials unwrapping bricks of cocaine on one of the ships, as well as agents storming homes, arresting people, and discovering drugs, cash, and weaponry.
Reference:
Over 6 million pills seized, nearly 50 suspects arrested in major drug smuggling bust in Europe