Europol smashes Balkan cartel shipping drugs from South America

Eight tonnes of cocaine seized and 40 people arrested after four-year investigation led by Spain's Guardia Civil

How big is Europe's cocaine problem - and what is the human cost?

Forty people have been arrested and eight tonnes of cocaine have been seized as a result of a four-year international police operation targeting a criminal network that trafficked large quantities of the drug from South America to Europe via west Africa and the Canary Islands.

The long-running investigation - which was led by Spain's Guardia Civil force and coordinated by Europol's operational taskforce - discovered that a Balkan cartel was using logistical hubs in west Africa and the Canaries to smuggle cocaine from Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador into EU countries.