Twenty-four people have been arrested in a crackdown on a gang smuggling migrants into Europe on speedboats, according to multiple reports. The individuals were allegedly part of a network operating across the Western Mediterranean that also facilitated logistics for other groups in the region, Europol said. The network was dismantled last month following a Spanish-led investigation supported by Europol and France. The gang had an extensive reach and international structure enabling various criminal activities including drug and arms trafficking and dangerous migrant smuggling by sea, Europol reported.
The smuggling gang was mainly based in the Almería area of south-east Spain, connected to other criminal groups in Spain and France, multiple reports indicate. The wider criminal network controlled industrial buildings, vehicles, boat repair services, and refuelling systems, according to Europol. The main migrant smuggling route was from Algeria to Spain using speedboats and leisure boats, multiple sources said. Migrants were primarily taken to the Spanish coasts of Almería, Murcia, and the Balearic Islands. Boats were stored in Spain, with high-powered engines supplied by members in France, Europol confirmed. Migrants were brought to the continent by sea, then smuggled by land into France and other western European countries.
The 24 suspects arrested were Spanish and Moroccan nationals, including a key facilitator described as a High Value Target, according to multiple reports. Fourteen houses in Spain were searched in the sting over March 22 and 23. Speedboats, semi-rigid inflatable and recreational boats, lorry and boat trailers, a signal jammer, airguns, shotguns, and over €80,000 in cash were seized, Europol said.
The investigation was part of a new Europol taskforce between Spain and France targeting migrant smuggling networks in the Western Mediterranean, multiple reports indicate. Police have taken action against an international criminal network in several countries, according to sources.
Separately, an international network suspected of orchestrating drug trafficking and money laundering worldwide was revealed after two mobiles were seized in a small Swedish town in Western Sweden. About ten Swedes have been arrested, several of them men in their 60s, according to multiple reports. Police in Europe, Asia, and Australia have taken action against the network. Europol is holding a press conference about the operation, called 'Operation Candy'. Mats Berggren, acting assistant head of the national operational department, led the operation. According to Berggren, the network is suspected to have worked in secret from several countries, but has now been stopped.
The seizure of two mobile phones in a small Swedish town exposed a criminal architecture stretching across Europe, Asia and Australia, research indicates. Forensic analysis of the devices led international law enforcement to multiple, interconnected organised crime networks allegedly involved in large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering. The scale and structure of the criminal ecosystem only emerged once investigators unlocked the data inside the devices. Led by Swedish authorities and known as Operation Candy, the investigation began in November 2023 after Swedish law enforcement seized two mobile phones from an alleged drug trafficker in Sweden. Forensic analysis of the devices revealed encrypted communications, international contacts and operational details reaching far beyond Sweden. Specialists at Europol supported Swedish investigators in analysing the data. Police allegedly uncovered multiple criminal networks dealing in synthetic drugs and large-scale money laundering. The groups allegedly shared facilitators and used a sophisticated web of corporate entities to obscure ownership, logistics and financial flows. Data recovered from the devices exposed how the interconnected networks operated across multiple crime areas and jurisdictions.
The phones were found two years ago, and the action against the network has been ongoing since then, according to multiple reports. The network laundered money through seemingly legitimate companies based in several countries, described as complex corporate structures, according to Mats Berggren. The network is also suspected of smuggling drugs from Europe to Australia, multiple sources said. According to Berggren, key players behind large-scale international money laundering and drug smuggling linked to several criminal networks have been arrested. Three Swedes have been arrested in Thailand, suspected of being involved in drug sales online targeting the Swedish market, Berggren said. Four Swedes have been arrested in Spain and requested to be extradited to Sweden, according to multiple reports. In a Swedish investigation that led to Thailand, network members were allegedly running a large-scale online drug distribution business supplying customers in the Nordic region, research shows. In Sweden, actors were allegedly managing domestic drug distribution while operating parallel money laundering structures to recycle criminal profits. In Germany, 1.2 tonnes of illicit drugs allegedly destined for Australia was intercepted, resulting in the arrests in Victoria of two alleged local distributors. In Spain, a high-value target was allegedly facilitating large-scale narcotics trafficking. On 4 March 2026, authorities overseas carried out about 20 simultaneous house searches, striking key nodes of the network. These actions were coordinated from command posts at several locations in Europe. The operation resulted in 13 arrests in Spain, Sweden and Thailand, research indicates. The operation resulted in the targeting of multiple high-value criminal figures. These actions built on operational activity in Australia last year (2025) against two alleged members of an organised criminal syndicate, bringing the total number of arrests to 15.
The operation resulted in significant seizures of criminal assets, including large sums of cash, watches, jewellery, vehicles and yachts worth €4 million, with tracing of more assets to come, research shows.
International cooperation, including with Eurojust, was crucial for the operation, according to prosecutor Tove Kullberg. Police from Australia, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Europol, and Eurojust participated in the operation, multiple reports indicate. According to Mats Berggren, the investigation will continue for many months or years, with more arrests expected. The Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (JOCTF), comprising the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Victoria Police and Australian Border Force (ABF), started an investigation after receiving a referral from German Customs. German Customs officers detected and seized 1.2 tonnes of illicit drugs.
In another major investigation, an international NCA-led operation - Operation Destabilise - has exposed and disrupted Russian money laundering networks supporting serious and organised crime around the world: spanning from the streets of the UK, to the Middle East, Russia, and South America, research indicates. Investigators have identified two Russian-speaking networks collaborating at the heart of the criminal enterprise; Smart and TGR. Operation Destabilise is being revealed today as the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announces sanctions against the Russian-speaking men and women at the head of these networks, as well as four businesses linked to TGR. A seventh individual, who was a global money laundering facilitator with strong links to one of the networks, has also been arrested by the NCA’s international partners. As well as enabling UK-based criminals, Smart and TGR used their global reach to launder money for transnational crime groups such as the Kinahans. The notorious family-run crime syndicate, responsible for trafficking drugs and firearms into the UK and around the world, were sanctioned by the US in 2022. They also helped Russian clients to illegally bypass financial restrictions to invest money in the UK, threatening the integrity of our economy. From late 2022 to summer 2023 the Smart network was used to fund Russian espionage operations.
NCA-coordinated activity has so far led to 84 arrests, with many already serving prison sentences, as well as the seizure of over £20m in cash and cryptocurrency, research shows. Operation Destabilise uncovered a complex scheme, whereby the networks collect funds in one country and make the equivalent value available in another, often by swapping cryptocurrency for cash. This provides a mutually beneficial service, streamlining the movement of cash generated by crime groups in the West, while simultaneously laundering crypto for cyber criminals, and helping Russian oligarchs and elites to bypass sanctions. The UK was a key hub, and the NCA worked closely with partners across UK law enforcement to conduct a series of operations linked to Destabilise. Investigators witnessed exchanges taking place at scale across the country where street-level cash handovers were followed almost immediately by a movement of cryptocurrency of the same value. After being paid in crypto in exchange for their cash, criminal gangs would use the virtual currency to reinvest in their illicit business, buying more drugs or firearms without the need to move any physical money across borders. The financial service provided to such groups perpetuated their violent activity, enabling them to cause serious harm to communities across the UK.
In a separate European operation, an international criminal network laundering cocaine profits for Italian organised crime has been dismantled after investigators followed the money trail across Europe, Europol said. Europol reported that what began as suspicious financial movements uncovered a sophisticated laundering system servicing members of the Camorra and the ‘Ndrangheta. Behind shell companies, false invoicing and luxury investments, millions of euros in cocaine profits were being cleaned and reinvested across Europe. The investigation was led by the French National Gendarmerie, in close cooperation with the Italian Carabinieri and the Swiss Federal Office of Police (fedpol). It was supported by the Belgian Judicial Federal Police of Antwerp, the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security, the German Customs and the Ecuadorian National Police, under the coordination of Europol and Eurojust.
Following the financial flows, investigators identified a Montenegrin national, known as a Europol high-value target and wanted by several European countries, research indicates. The suspect had settled in the Cannes area in France with close family members, including his Italian son-in-law, who is known to Italian authorities for money laundering, fraud, and weapons offences. The financial investigation revealed that the laundering network was directly connected to large-scale cocaine trafficking from South America into Europe. The group is suspected of coordinating maritime shipments of significant quantities of cocaine into Europe’s main ports. A major seizure by Belgian customs in late 2025 was linked to the Montenegrin suspect, providing a decisive breakthrough. The network relied on substantial financial capacity, crypto-assets, weekly cross-border travel in luxury vehicles with sophisticated concealment compartments and a corporate network spanning multiple jurisdictions.
On 23 February, authorities carried out coordinated arrests and searches in France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland. Seven suspects were arrested (four in France, three in Italy), including the Montenegrin high-value target. On the French Riviera, luxury vehicles were seized, alongside high-end properties worth more than EUR 5 million. Additional companies and assets were seized in Switzerland and Italy.
Europol has supported this investigation since 2023 and it quickly became one of the Agency’s most active operations within its European Financial and Economic Crime Centre, research shows. The case received the full range of Europol services: advanced criminal and financial analysis, secure real-time communication and deployments in the field in France and Italy to support the national investigators and build a shared operational picture. In 2024, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was established at Eurojust between France, Italy and Switzerland, enabling close judicial coordination.