Operation ATLAS NEXUS, a joint police operation across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, resulted in more than 490 arrests and the dismantling of dozens of criminal networks.[1][2] Officers from 34 countries took part with more than 8,680 police and judicial officers.[1][2] The operation was led by Belgium’s Federal Police and co-coordinated by EMPACT Operational Action 6.1, Frontex and CARICOM IMPACS, an agency of the Caribbean Community.[1] The operation targeted drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings, document fraud, firearms trafficking and environmental crime.[1]

Participating authorities seized 118.6 tonnes of cannabis as part of 156.9 tonnes of drugs, alongside 37.6 tonnes of cocaine.[1][2] The Dutch cannabis news site CNNBS, reporting the Belgian Federal Police statement, said the haul amounted to 118,600 kilos of weed and hash.[3] The tally included 201 firearms and 3,131 units of ammunition and explosives, and officers executed 595 search warrants.[1] Authorities also seized 169 properties, 464 pieces of jewellery, about USD 135,000 in cash and cryptocurrencies, and 0.83 kg of gold.[1] Property, jewellery and other criminal proceeds were seized from the networks, 18 victims were rescued and assisted, and 37 INTERPOL notices were issued, including 17 Red Notices.[1]

In Costa Rica authorities seized more than 27 tonnes of drugs and arrested 375 people.[1][2] The Costa Rican judicial investigation agency OIJ took 24,500 kilos of cocaine and 3,200 kilos of cannabis from the network, which was smuggling cocaine from Colombia toward Europe.[3] In Paraguay authorities seized a record 104.96 tonnes of cannabis.[1][2] Portuguese authorities seized more than 3 tonnes of cocaine on the coast after a speedboat transferred bales to smaller boats, and recovered 2 tonnes more from bales found adrift at sea.[1] In Ireland officers dismantled the first cocaine-processing laboratory ever detected in the country.[1]

Frontex deployed its officers at air, land and sea borders and provided vessel tracking and Copernicus surveillance support to the coordination centre.[1]

In Costa Rica, 14 victims were rescued alongside the 375 arrests.[2] Three federal judicial police officers from Liège led the operation, two of them working from the international command centre in Trinidad and Tobago.[2] No police operation or arrest took place in Belgium itself, and no Belgian national was arrested elsewhere in the operation.[2]