Major cocaine network — led by "The Professor" — busted in Europe

Spanish police on Friday announced the takedown of a major network transporting Latin American cocaine into Europe by boat in an international operation involving 50 arrests across eight countries.

The investigation was started by police in Spain and Britain in June 2020 but quickly expanded, drawing in forces from 11 different countries and backed by Europol, Europe's policing agency, a Spanish police statement said.

In total, they confiscated 1.5 tons of cocaine and seized eight vessels used for shifting their product from Latin American and Caribbean nations to Spain. Europol released a video showing authorities opening bricks of cocaine one of the ships as well as officers raiding properties, making arrests, and finding drugs, cash and firearms.

The narcotics were shipped from loading points in Brazil, Colombia, Guayana, Trinidad and Tobago, Santa Lucia, Barbados and Panama to Spanish ports in the Canary Islands, the southern region of Andalusia and the eastern city of Valencia

The leader, who was arrested in Norway, is a veteran drug smuggler known as "The Professor," the statement said. Europol said Friday it had previously designated the leader as a "high value target."

He has had "more than 20 years" in the business, winning him the "full confidence of the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels" with whom he coordinated the shipments, it added.

The network also included members of the so-called "Balkans' cartel" who were "living the high life" in Spain's southern Costa del Sol, the statement said.

But there was also a spiritual element, police said.

"The criminal organization would appeal to a santero (witchdoctor) to receive his blessing and for the success of its cocaine transportation operations between Latin America and Europe," it said.

Seeking a santero's blessing is a key element of Santeria , an Afro-Cuban belief system that fuses African religions with Catholicism and which is very popular in Latin America.

Of the detainees, 26 were arrested in Spain, among them 16 Norwegians -- one of whom was a former bank robber, who also targeted armored cash-in-transit vehicles and had spent 15 years behind bars for violence.

The other 24 suspected gang members were arrested in Bulgaria, Colombia, Norway, Panama, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, and the UK.

Most of the arrests took place on June 24, Europol said.

In Spain, one of the main gateways into Europe for Latin American cocaine, police regularly raid drug smugglers, with the last major raid in June involving eight tons of cocaine with 40 arrests. After that sting, Europol released a nearly 10-minute video , showing K-9 dogs and officers finding bags of suspected drugs as well as multiple suspects being detained.

The new bust followed other major drug seizures this week, involving cocaine shipments headed for Europe. On Tuesday ,authorities in Paraguay announced Tuesday the largest cocaine seizure in the country's history, after officials were surprised to find more than 4 tons of the drug stashed inside a shipment of sugar bound for Belgium.

The day before that, authorities in Ecuador said they found more than six tons of cocaine hidden in a banana shipment headed to Germany.