Law enforcement officers from 34 countries, including Malta have taken part in the largest ever coordinated operation against organised crime in the EU.

Europol said 1,027 individuals were arrested. Five were arrested in Malta in connection with drug trafficking, illegal migration and theft. .

Police forces from all EU member states took part.

The police in Malta said that the arrests in Malta led to the confiscation of 1.3 kilograms of heroin and 1kilograms of cannabis. Investigations are continuing.

Operation Archimedes targeted organised crime groups and their infrastructures across the European Union in a series of actions in hundreds of locations, with the cooperation of Eurojust, Frontex and Interpol.

Ninety of the arrests involved the organisation of human trafficking and 170 involved 'facilitators of illegal immigration'.

"Operation Archimedes is a milestone in attempts by the law enforcement community to deliver concerted action against organised crime groups in Europe. The scale of the operation is unprecedented and the outcome, with over 1,000 arrests made across Europe, a reminder to even the most serious criminal groups that the international law enforcement community is determined to combat their illegal activities," said Rob Wainwright, Director of Europol.

"This week, as EU police chiefs gather at Europol for the 2014 European Police Chiefs Convention, our focus will be on how our combined strengths can best be applied to bringing down even more of the organised criminal groups that threaten the safety and wellbeing of our society."

Focussed on disrupting the activities of the most threatening criminal groups and top targets active in key crime hotspots across Europe, the intelligence-led Operation Archimedes saw the participation of law enforcement officers from all 28 EU Member States as well as Australia, Colombia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and the USA.

In the largest period of joint action days held so far in the EU, raids and other interventions took place between September 15 and 23 in hundreds of locations including airports, border-crossing points, ports and specific crime hot spots in towns and cities.

Europol said 1,027 individuals were arrested, 599 kg of cocaine, 200 kg of heroin and 1.3 tonnes of cannabis were seized. 30 Romanian children were saved from trafficking.