Reports indicate that this weekend, authorities revealed the organization was led by a figure associated with a prominent Italian criminal group known as the Ndrangheta, though most of its ranks are of Montenegrin origin. The operation unfolded with the participation of law enforcement from Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, and Slovenia. It resulted in the seizure of 6.1 tons of cocaine, along with substantial cash, several vehicles, a boat, and a firearm with ammunition.
The investigation traces back to 2018, when Portuguese authorities intercepted 840 kilograms of cocaine concealed inside a boat moored off the coast of Horta, in the Azores. Later that year, in December, officers from the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Civil Guard Command and the UCO’s Alicante Organized Crime Unit located a vessel at Tenerife with crew members who maintained strong ties to Balkan clans involved in sea-based cocaine trafficking.
Following multiple inquiries, 600 kilograms of cocaine were found concealed aboard the same vessel in May 2019, on the island of Horta. Two crew members—one of Montenegrin origin and the other British—were arrested in connection with the seizure. During this period, Spanish Civil Guard-led operational analyses helped uncover how the organization acquired a new sailboat in the province of Alicante.
Early in 2020, with cooperation from the Civil Guard, authorities in Ivory Coast seized 411 kilograms of cocaine and arrested seven individuals at a port there. The suspects were identified as Ghanaian and Montenegrin by descent. All data collected by the Civil Guard in these two arrests were shared with Europol and linked to the Miami Florida I operation carried out by Montenegrin police, which had previously seized 5.1 tons of cocaine from a cargo vessel off Aruba Island in the Netherlands, arresting eleven crew members, all of Montenegrin origin.
Collectively, Operation Florida I culminated with the arrest of 29 individuals and the seizure of 6.1 tons of cocaine, marking a significant multinational effort against a deeply interconnected trafficking network across the Atlantic region.