European crackdown expands across borders with massive seizures and coordinated operations

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Spain is leading a European-wide effort this November to dismantle networks involved in arms trafficking, drug smuggling, and the smuggling of migrants and people, according to a Thursday briefing from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The operation resulted in 566 arrests and opened 163 new investigations, underscoring a sustained push to curb cross-border crime across the continent.

The Ministry notes that the core phase of the police operation ran from November 13 to 18, with participation from more than 22,000 law enforcement officers representing 26 countries. Among these participants were agencies from outside the European Union, including Albania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine. Europol provided critical support to coordinate this multinational enforcement, aligning resources and intelligence across borders.

During the action, authorities inspected roughly 215,000 people, identified 2,200 individuals who had entered the jurisdiction illegally, and seized significant quantities of weapons and drugs. Specifically, 310 firearms were recovered, and just under one metric ton of illegal narcotics was seized, including 626 kilograms of cocaine. These figures reflect a broad crackdown on both individual offenders and organized crime networks that exploit porous borders and illicit supply chains.

Of the 566 arrests, 218 targeted immigrant smuggling activities, 186 targeted drug trafficking, 69 involved firearms trafficking, and 89 covered other criminal offenses. The operation also benefited from collaboration with European and international bodies such as Eurojust, Frontex, and Interpol. The European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) continues to promote coordinated actions among EU member states to address the most serious international criminal threats.

Although the control center for the operation was based in Skopje, North Macedonia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs stressed that Spain led the effort and that all participating authorities were represented, with the aim of delivering a fast, synchronized response to evolving criminal threats. In parallel, Spain’s national command center operated from the headquarters of the Intelligence Center to Combat Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO) in Madrid, enabling real-time information sharing with all participants, including the coordinating center in Skopje.

The Spanish operation brought together a multidisciplinary team drawn from the National Police, the Civil Guard, and the Mossos d’Esquadra. The coordination of field actions was complemented by a robust cyber patrol program designed to monitor and investigate online activity related to illicit trafficking and information gathering on identified targets. This cyber component deployed specialized analysts capable of understanding multilingual communications and illicit online networks in real time.

In this phase, cyber patrol efforts focused on surveillance across multiple online spaces, including instant messaging platforms, social networks, and various websites and forums where illegal arms deals are known to occur. The objective was twofold: detect ongoing firearms trafficking and assemble actionable intelligence on individuals and groups involved. Analysts fluent in Bulgarian, Bosnian, Croatian, English, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian collaborated with the international coordination center to normalize and share findings across borders, ensuring a timely response to emerging threats.

Investigators identified a total of 120 cyber targets during the patrols, with 94 of those related to firearms trafficking found on messaging apps. The remaining targets were traced to other online platforms and forums, reflecting the diverse channels through which illicit networks operate. This integrated approach—combining on-the-ground enforcement with proactive cyber intelligence—illustrates how modern operations adapt to the evolving landscape of international crime, where digital and real-world activities are tightly interwoven. Attribution: Internal Affairs, with cooperation from EU agencies and international partners.

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