Three people arrested in Switzerland in international drug gang crackdown
Several kilograms of cocaine and heroin were seized during arrests in Switzerland on June 4.
Keystone
The discovery of empty cocaine packaging and shredding equipment at an illegal landfill site in Antwerp, Belgium, led investigators on the trail of an Albanian drug trafficking ring. Three arrests were made in Switzerland as a result of international co-operation. Across Europe, a total of 17 people were arrested.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Check out our selection of newsletters. Subscribe here.
The gang from Albania, involved in large-scale drug trafficking and armed robberies, was dismantled. Its activities also extended to Switzerland, as the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) confirmed on Friday in a report by the Italian news agency Adnkronos.
During the operation in Switzerland on Tuesday, police seized nine kilograms of heroin and two kilograms of cocaine. Fedpol did not disclose which cantonal police forces were involved in the operation in the interests of the ongoing investigations in Belgium. The exchange of information between the Swiss and Belgian authorities in the case was coordinated by Fedpol.
The discovery in Antwerp was followed by further operations at landfill sites in Belgium. These uncovered dozens of empty heroin and cocaine packages.
In total, the authorities arrested 17 suspects on Tuesday during their coordinated operation in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. A further two gang members had already been arrested in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
This case illustrates that Switzerland is clearly part of the European crime area, Fedpol told the Keystone-SDA news agency. With its central location, prosperity and political stability, it is an attractive target for organised crime.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kc/sb
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Switzerland no longer wants to foot the bill for ‘suicide tourism’
Swiss parliament calls for deeper EU security cooperation
This content was published on
The House of Representatives has called on the Swiss government to take a more proactive approach to European security policy.
Switzerland has no US-style fentanyl problem, says health minister
This content was published on
There is very little chance of a US-sized fentanyl epidemic in Switzerland, says health minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.
This content was published on
Two fish species recently discovered in Switzerland have been called fluvicola and ommata, following an appeal to the public for names.
Convicted ex-shipowner achieves partial success in Swiss court
This content was published on
The Federal Supreme Court orders lower court to reassess part of its verdict against former Swiss shipowner Hans-Jürg Grunder.
This content was published on
A Swiss moratorium on the genetic engineering of plants, which expires at the end of 2025, could be extended for five years.
SWISS airline achieves second-best profit in history
This content was published on
Revenues soared for Swiss International Air Lines in 2024, contributing to the second-largest profit in the company's history.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.