Police bust multi-billion dollar Brazil-Europe drug ring

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian and European police have busted a drug-trafficking ring that shipped more than 17 tonnes of cocaine worth billions of dollars from South America to Europe, authorities said on Friday.

After a two-year multi-national investigation, police arrested 15 suspects Thursday in a series of raids and seized more than $87 million ($80 million euros) in assets, said Brazilian federal police and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol).

“In a significant victory for the war on drugs, law enforcement in Latin America and Europe have taken down one of Brazil´s most active drug trafficking organisations inundating Europe with multi-tonnes shipments of cocaine,” Europol said in a statement.

The cocaine was produced in Bolivia, trucked to Brazil by a Paraguayan supplier and sent to Europe via two large shipping companies based in the Brazilian ports of Rio Grande and Itajai, police said.