Police smash European synthetic drug ring in 'largest-ever' op

THE HAGUE

European police said on Wednesday they had busted a major synthetic drug ring working across several countries in the "largest-ever operation" of its kind, striking a "massive blow" to organized crime.

Authorities dismantled 24 industrial-scale labs and seized around 1,000 tons of chemicals used to make street drugs such as MDMA, amphetamine and meth.

"I've been in this business for a while. This is by far the largest-ever operation we did against synthetic drug production and distribution," Andy Kraag, head of Europol's European Serious Organized Crime Center, told AFP in an interview.

"I think this is genuinely a massive blow to organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking, specifically of synthetic drugs," added Kraag.

The year-long operation involved police from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

More than 85 arrests were made, including the two suspected ringleaders, both from Poland, Kraag said.

Suspicions were raised back in 2024 when Polish police noticed a network importing vast quantities of legal chemicals from China and India.

Investigations later showed these chemicals were being repackaged, mislabeled and redistributed across the European Union to labs that manufactured the synthetic drugs.

The majority of those arrested were from Poland, but Belgian and Dutch nationals are also thought to have been involved in the criminal operations.

Kraag said the operation was part of a "supply-chain strategy" to choke off the synthetic drug industry at its source.

"These criminal groups, they don't have their supply anymore," he told AFP.