Europol supported Italy’s Financial Guard and the Catalan Mossos d’Esquadra, with Eurojust, in dismantling a large criminal network behind several tonnes of cannabis trafficked into the EU, also striking the money-laundering network clearing its proceeds.[1][2][3]
The action day on 17 October brought 78 arrests, 58 in Italy and 20 in Spain, across 104 house searches, 89 in Italy and 25 in Spain.[1][2][3] Officers seized about 350 kilos of cannabis, 327 of hashish and 33 of marijuana, alongside weapons, electronic equipment, documents and assets worth 845,000 euros.[1][2][3] Moroccan nationals based in Spain arranged the drug deliveries into Spain and onward to distributors in Italy.[1][3]
Between 2019 and 2021 alone, authorities in Italy and Spain had already seized more than six tonnes of cannabis and hashish from the network, as well as cannabinoid-based electronic cigarette refills; criminal investigations opened in Italy in 2019 and in Spain in 2022 and converged as cooperation progressed.[1][2][3] The suspects coordinated logistics over the encrypted platforms Sky ECC and Encrochat, and settled shipments through an informal hawala-like banking system known as fei-ch’ien, run mainly by Chinese nationals.[1][2][3] Investigators found two separate but leader-linked networks, one for trafficking and one for laundering, and financial and asset-recovery inquiries remain open.[1][2][3] The network had already been hit in November 2022, when a coordinated action arrested 36 suspects in Italy and six more were detained in the Netherlands and Spain on European arrest warrants.[1][2][3]
