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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Contribution of Serbian Interior Ministry to international action to prevent cocaine smuggling

Belgrade, 22 August 2023

The Ministry of the Interior announced today that it participated in an international operation to break up a criminal organisation that smuggled large quantities of cocaine from South America to the European Union via the Canary Islands.

This action, in which, in addition to Serbia, the police of Croatia and Italy also participated, in cooperation with Europol, resulted in a coordinated success in which the Spanish police seized 750 kilograms of cocaine and arrested citizens of Croatia and Serbia suspected of coordinating drug smuggling operations from the mainland.

The investigation was launched in March 2022 due to suspicions that the ship, which sailed under the Polish flag, with a temporary base established in the Canary Islands, was used to transport cocaine, and that among the crew members there were persons connected to the 'Ndrangheta criminal groups in Italy and the so-called Balkan cartel.

At the beginning of August of this year, the Spanish police seized 750 kilograms of cocaine on that ship and arrested two members of this criminal group. During the arrest, the suspects were found with phones from which they coordinated the criminal activity.

In this action, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior once again showed that it is a reliable partner in suppressing the international drug trade and in the fight against organised crime.