Between 12 and 17 February 2026 Europol supported a joint operation by police in Ukraine, Poland and Moldova against a criminal network producing and trafficking drugs, mainly synthetic cathinones such as alpha-PVP.[1] On the operation’s main day, Ukrainian National Police and Poland’s Central Bureau of Investigation carried out coordinated checks at about 510 locations.[1] Officers dismantled 36 illegal production sites and 74 storage facilities.[1]

Officers detained 97 people in Ukraine under the criminal procedure code and notified 123 people that they were suspects under several articles of the criminal code, depending on their role.[2] Europol put the totals for the three countries at 129 people facing criminal charges and 103 taken into custody.[1] A Catalan security blog’s account of the Europol statement listed 47 kg of cannabis among the confiscations and 129 people investigated with 103 arrested.[3]

Police said the network, led by a Ukrainian organiser, built a full production chain from smuggled EU precursors to sale through marketplaces, forums and closed chats paid in cryptocurrency.[2] Police said the network’s combined capacity was more than 700 kg of drugs a month and its estimated profit more than 400 million hryvnias.[2] In a parallel phase in Poland, six people linked to the laboratories were detained, and a courier was held in Moldova trying to take Ukrainian-made drugs across the border.[2] Members of the groups face up to twelve years in prison with confiscation of property.[2]

The submitted EU NEIGHBOURS east summary of the operation reported the same 36 production sites, 74 stores, 129 people charged and 103 detained.[1]