The Spanish National Police dismantled the operational structure of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in European territory, a key node in the introduction of cocaine and methamphetamine coming from South America.
The operation, coordinated with the DEA and Dutch authorities, left twenty detainees, including two priority targets of the anti-drug agency American and several members of the Italian Camorra, responsible for distribution in Europe. Fifteen of those arrested were sent to prison.
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The investigation was activated after the detection of a shipment of cocaine hidden in industrial machinery. Since then, agents followed the trail of a network that stored the drugs in farms before shipping them to other regions of Spain and, more recently, to Italy through a link from the Amato-Pagano clan.
CJNG maintains a presence in several regions of the world
The CJNG, designated this year by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), maintains a presence in several regions of the world and has consolidated alliances with European criminal networks to sustain the transatlantic flow of drugs.
Europol documented cooperation between cartels and local groups to traffic drugs to the EU, while recent DEA reports point to a increased activities in Australia and New Zealand.
Outside Europe, the expansion of cartels is also reflected in South America, where Ecuadorian security agencies report the intervention of organizations linked to the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel in territorial disputes.
In Asia, reports of The Narcotics Control Bureau of India registers the presence of cells associated with CJNG in methamphetamine laboratoriesand analyzes by think tanks such as Brookings describe their interest in securing chemical precursors through agreements with Chinese triads.
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In Africa, academic research points to the use of ports in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal as corridors for traffic to Europe, although with less visible structures.
The operation in Spain confirms that the international projection of the CJNG has become a priority for the security forces.