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Join on Telegram Rabat – Morocco’s security services have participated in a major anti-drug trafficking operation in Brazil and three European countries.
Supported by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Europol, the operation was based on 19 outstanding arrest warrants.
Two courts in Rio de Janeiro issued the arrest warrants, according to Morocco’s state media MAP.
The operation sought to dismantle a drug trafficking group that was active in Central America, Brazil, and Europe.
Suspects involved in the case fragmented the drugs to transport them in cars or trucks to Brazilian ports before transporting them to Europe.
Within a period of 15 months, suspects involved in the operation were able to transfer some 250 million reais ($48 million) proceeds from this drug trade.
The drug trafficking network was linked to two Brazilian “criminal factions,” MAP said, adding that the traffickers were sending cocaine from Peru and Bolivia to European countries.
Citing Brazilian Federal Police, the news agency reported that the drug trafficking network featured an active branch in Central America.
In addition, international security services jointly carried out an operation in Brazil, Spain, Paraguay, and the UAE to execute 20 arrest warrants and 30 searches against an organization that procured cocaine in producing countries, including Bolivia and Colombia.
Drug traffickers were using sea routes to transport the drugs to Europe.
They were concealing the drugs in containers to the ports of Barcelona and Valencia, from where they were distributed across Europe.
Security services were able to identify suspects involved in the network within 18 months of investigation.
During the operation, Brazil deployed 200 agents of its Federal police, allowing for the arrest of at least 25 people, including four Spaniards.
Police also seized vehicles and cash.
Morocco has frequently participated in joint anti-drug trafficking operations. One of the latest missions took place last year in February, when Moroccan police thwarted an international trafficking operation of psychotropic drugs in Tangier, in collaboration with the US DEA.
