Police recently busted a drug 'super-cartel' that controlled around a third of cocaine trafficking in Europe.
Europol announced on Monday that nearly 50 suspects had been arrested in various countries, including Dubai, in this case.
This international operation resulted in the seizure of 30 tons of cocaine.
The suspects have also been arrested in France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
“The drug lords […] had come together to form what was known as a 'super cartel' which controlled around a third of the cocaine trade in Europe,” Europol said.
Arrest of a "big fish"
The scale of the importation of cocaine into Europe by these dealers was "massive" according to the European agency.
Dubai has arrested two suspects of "great interest", linked to the Netherlands, two others linked to Spain and two linked to France.
One of the Dutch suspects is an "extremely big fish", a Europol source said.
Of the 49 suspects in total, 14 had already been arrested in 2021 in the Netherlands in the context of the same operation.
The Dutch public prosecutor's office has indicated that it intends to ask the United Arab Emirates for the extradition of the two Dutch-linked suspects arrested in Dubai.
One is a 37-year-old man with dual Dutch and Moroccan nationality, accused of importing thousands of kilos of cocaine into the Netherlands in 2020 and 2021. The other is a 40-year-old man with dual Dutch and Bosnian nationality, according to the prosecution.
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