Cocaine 'super-cartel' crumbles as UK 'kingpin' among 49 arrested in Dubai and Europe

A Dubai-based drug cartel believed to be behind a third of Europe's total cocaine market has been busted by police in an international operation described as 'historic'

Spanish cops have described one of the leaders of the "macro criminal organization" as a British national who fled his former base on the Costa del Sol for the UAE city after an attempted kidnapping.

The Civil Guard, one of the police forces involved in the operation coordinated by Europol, revealed today that 49 people have been arrested in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Dubai .

They said police busted a ‘European super cocaine cartel’ controlled by Dubai-based drug lords who believed they were beyond the reach of the law.

A spokesman for the force said, "Seven are considered High Value Targets (HVT) by Europol."

Spanish Civil Guard find wads of cash during raids (

Picture:

SOLARPIX.COM)

He revealed that the Spanish part of the operation, dubbed Operation Faukas, started with the seizure of a container containing almost 700 kilos of cocaine in the port of Valencia in March 2020 but that there was no had no arrests at the time.

"This resulted in an important exchange of information, under the aegis of Europol, with the police forces of other countries, which resulted in the identification of the persons responsible for the introduction of the drugs in the container as well as 'contamination' of the container at the port of origin in Panama,” he said.

"During the investigation, investigators were able to establish that a criminal organization was smuggling containers containing cocaine through the ports of Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Algeciras.

“At the same time, a complex real estate business had been set up on the Costa del Sol to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking profits.

"The leader of this organization has been identified as a Briton linked to the Costa del Sol who had to leave Spain and move to Dubai after being the subject of an attempted kidnapping.

"From Dubai, he continued to direct and coordinate the criminal activities of the organization, while maintaining contacts and business interests with the rest of the drug lords based in this city of the emirate."