Investigators in Belgium arrest "two of the biggest drug lords in Europe"

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Seized cocaine (symbol image)

Photo: Sven Hoppe / picture alliance / dpa

Belgian police officers took action against a suspected drug cartel that is said to have operated across Europe.

Last week, they arrested 17 suspects in Antwerp and Brussels, according to the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation.

Among those arrested are "two of the biggest drug bosses in Europe."

They are supposed to be the link between South American drug cartels and cocaine users in Europe.

From Belgium they allegedly organized the Europe-wide smuggling of cocaine.

During the raid on December 15 and 16, several hundred thousand euros and 187 kilograms of cocaine were confiscated.

The decisive reference to the 34-year-old Albanian and the 35-year-old Latvian would have been given by officials from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office.

The starting point of the investigation was a discovery of almost 200 kilograms of cocaine in ten Bavarian supermarkets in 2017. At the time, employees found the drug in banana boxes.

According to investigators, the gang's scam was to smuggle cocaine into Germany from Ecuador in banana boxes by ship.

The banana boxes came by truck from the port of Hamburg to the fruit ripeners - there gang members are said to have broken into and taken the drugs from the boxes.

In connection with the case, 14 perpetrators were convicted in 2018.

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bbr / AFP