Five foreign people were arrested in Malta in connection with crimes related to drug trafficking, irregular immigration and theft as part of a Europe-wide operation coordinated by Europol.
During the Maltese operation at the airport, the seaport and the Freeport, the police and Customs officers seized 1.3 kilos of heroin and a kilo of cannabis, the police said. Investigations continued.
A total of 1,027 individuals were arrested across 34 countries during Operation Archimedes, which targeted organised crime groups and their infrastructure in a series of actions in hundreds of locations. The operation ran between September 15 and 23.
Across Europe, two tons of drugs were seized and 30 Romanian children were saved from trafficking
More than 500 kilos of cocaine and 200 kilos of heroin were seized together with 1.3 tons of cannabis.
Also, 30 Romanian children were saved from trafficking.
Some faced forced work in prostitution or begging gangs, Europe’s police organisation said.
Irregular immigration played an important part of the operation.
According to Europol, in coordination with Frontex – the EU’s border control agency – about 10,000 irregular immigrants were checked, leading to the arrest of criminals facilitating illegal immigration.
In total, 170 “facilitators” were arrested and significant intelligence was gathered.
“It’s the single largest coordinated assault on organised crime ever seen in Europe,” Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol, told a news conference at the organisation’s headquarters.
He said the operation was made necessary by the increasing sophistication and interconnectedness of Europe’s crime groups, many of whom were using the hard-to-monitor “dark net” – or encrypted internet – to communicate with each other.
“Months in the planning, it was a carefully coordinated series of attacks on key nodal points and crime sectors that underpin the underground crime economy in Europe,” he said.
“What we have seen emerging is an integrated underground criminal economy.”
The operation yielded leads that would result in further investigations and arrests, Europol said.
Authorities in United States and Colombia also helped in identifying new drug trafficking routes to Europe, including drugs increasingly being shipped in parcels sent by post.