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37 planes, many millions of euros, 70 luxury cars and bank accounts whose balances are not yet fully known. Early Saturday morning, a mega operation unleashed in Portugal and other countries – such as Brazil, Spain and Belgium – it has dismantled a criminal organization engaged in trafficking huge quantities of cocaine to Europe and money laundering. In total, in addition to 179 home and non-home searches in the various states, 45 people were arrested, 38 of them in Brazil, four in Belgium, one in Spain and two in Dubai. The scheme had been in operation for several years and had roots on several continents.
In the national territory alone, the National Unit for the Fight against Drug Trafficking of the Judicial Police seized about 12 million euros in cash last weekend, two properties with an estimated value of 2.5 million euros and several bank current accounts whose balances are not yet fully accounted for.
The investigation was conducted in Portugal by the Central Investigation and Prosecution Department (DCIAP), which had “Europol’s support in the areas of information coordination and analysis”, explains an official source of the Criminal Police.
Also involved were the Federal Police of Brazil, the Federal Judicial Police of Belgium (Federal Gerechtelijke Politie, Police Judiciaire Fédérale), the Cuerpo Nacional de Policia de España, the National Police of the Netherlands (Politie), the Romanian Police (Poliția Română ) and the Dubai police (القيادة العامة لشرطة دبي) “, explains the judiciary.
In the remaining countries, millions of euros, dollars and reais have also been seized. According to the judicial police, their counterparts were kidnapped two million reais and 169,000 US dollars cash in Brazil, € 300,000 in cash in Belgium, 163 properties in Brazil with an estimated value of over 132 million reais, two properties in Spain with an estimated value of 4 million euros, 37 non-Brazilian aircraft; 70 luxury cars in Brazil, Belgium and Spain. In addition, financial assets of a value not yet fully determined were also located.
The evidence available so far indicates that the criminal organization now dismantled was responsible for introducing at least 45 tons of cocaine per year to the European continent, shipped from Brazil by sea, ”reveals the PJ.
According to Europol, the drug entered the European territory through “the main seaports”, obtaining the group profits of over 100 million euros for periods of 6 months.
The European police explains it the criminal network “has had direct contact with cartels in Brazil and other South American countries, where cocaine was prepared and shipped in shipping containers, bound for the main European ports “.
“The scale of cocaine imports is huge, with more than 52 tons of cocaine by the authorities alone in the course of the investigation “, Europol also mentions on its website, adding: “In April 2020, Europol brought together the countries involved, which have since worked together to establish a common strategy to dismantle the whole network. The main suspects were identified on both sides of the Atlantic, with the support of Operation EMMA 95 / LEMONT 26, the investigation conducted by France and the Netherlands against the Encrochat network ”.
Since then, Europol has provided intelligence coordination and analysis to support researchers in the field. During the operation, eight police officers were sent to Portugal, Belgium and Brazil to support the national authorities, ensuring a quick analysis of the new data collected during the action and adapting the strategy as needed, “Europol says.
For the National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking, this operation “clearly demonstrated that s– through strong cooperation between the authorities of the various countries it is possible to effectively combat this type of structures criminal activities and their illegal activities “.
Europol Deputy Director Wil van Gemert also commented on the success of the investigation: “This operation highlights the complexity and the broad reach of Brazilian organized crime groups in Europe. The scale of the challenge facing the police around the world today calls for a coordinated approach to combat drug trafficking across continents. The commitment of our partner countries to work through Europol has supported the success of this operation and serves as a call for continued global action ”.
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