Hacked Sky ECC chats lead to dismantling of large-scale Balkan cocaine network
Eleven suspects were arrested in the Balkans on Tuesday in a long-running cross-border investigation into a large-scale cocaine network. The organization is linked to cocaine shipments from South America to Europe. The network operated from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia.

Half Ton
The alleged cocaine traffickers arrested in the investigation used different maritime routes to ship the coke. The criminal network is linked to the seizure of over half a ton of cocaine, with a street value of €50 million, in the port of Plo?e in southern Croatia in late March 2021. The drugs were hidden in a modified floor of a shipping container. According to Europol, this seizure is 'a further indication that international drug trafficking organisations are increasingly targeting smaller EU ports'.

Raids
On the day of action that took place on Tuesday, eleven suspects were arrested: two in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one in Croatia and eight in Serbia. One of them is considered the ringleader of the organization. During raids, weapons and a large amount of ammunition were seized, as well as several expensive vehicles, watches and more than 1 million euros in cash. Four suspects from the network were already in custody. International arrest warrants have been issued for three fugitive suspects.

Modus operandi
The criminal network bribed several corrupt customs officials to bypass police and customs checks during the logistical phase of the export. One corrupt customs official was arrested during the operation. The other arrests involved members of the criminal network who played various roles in the organization.

Some of them led different branches of the organization, while others financed its activities or coordinated and arranged its logistics. One of the suspects, a ringleader arrested in Serbia, was already wanted by an EU member state. He was involved in a million-euro theft and belongs to the notorious Pink Panther gang. Both the theft and his escape from prison after his conviction date back to the early 2000s.

The investigation is a follow-up to an earlier operation against an affiliated criminal network. The investigations stem from the March 2021 dismantling of the encrypted communications platform Sky ECC.

Belgium and the Netherlands
In cooperation with France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and with the support of Europol’s Drugs Unit, Serbian authorities have identified the main cocaine trafficking kingpins on its territory and mapped their criminal activities worldwide, Europol reports. This criminal organisation is believed to be linked to a large-scale criminal network that imports multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia via Brazil and Ecuador.

The cracking of EncroChat, Sky ECC and Anom further underscores the dominance of Balkan criminals in the global cocaine trade and related organised crime activities, Europol said.

https://www.crimesite.nl/gekraakte-...rootschalig-cocainenetwerk-op-de-balkan/