Over three dozen operatives in a global drug smuggling syndicate were arrested on Wednesday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced. Members of the smuggling network led by ethnic Albanians are charged with trafficking cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy (MDMA) and prescription drugs into the U.S., Canada, and Europe.The arrests are the result of a four year investigation led by the New York Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Strike Force, which revealed that the group, in operation for ten years, allegedly used tractors to illegally import marijuana into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. Drugs were also concealed in hidden compartments in luxury cars en route to Europe, according to federal prosecutors.
The operation was overseen by a man serving a five year sentence in Albania using smuggled cell phones. The United States has requested his extradition.
The organized crime network comprises “several inter-related ethnic Albanian family clans” and has operatives and customers in Europe and North and South America, according to the DEA. Most of the suspects were arrested in New York, but five indictees were already in custody, and one was arrested in Florida.
The suspects are also charged with using firearms for drug trafficking and laundering tens of millions of dollars in profits, according to the federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday . Prosecutors specifically pointed to a Canadian firm which helped the organization launder up to $15 million in one year’s profits from narcotics smuggling.
Over the course of the operation, agents seized 1,600 pounds of Marijuana, almost $5 million dollars in drug profits, 24 kilos of liquid cocaine and a number of firearms.
At the time of the arrests, the DEA says the syndicate was negotiating the acquisition of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from South America for export to the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and intended to expand operations to include regular shipments of cocaine from South America to Spain.
