On December 10, 2024, Brazilian and Italian authorities announced the implementation of two joint operations aimed at dismantling a scheme for smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe using shipping vessels or planes. Authorities issued 18 arrest warrants in Brazil and one in Spain against suspected members of criminal groups linked to international drug trafficking. In Italy, police stated that five individuals were arrested.
The scheme involves a partnership between the “First Capital Command”—one of Brazil’s largest crime gangs, known as PCC—and the most powerful mafia group in Italy, “Ndrangheta,” according to the Brazilian prosecutor’s office and a Brazilian source familiar with the case, as reported by Reuters.
These joint operations reveal the continued cooperation between the authorities of both countries in addressing the growing challenges posed by transnational criminal gangs. They also highlight Brazil’s increasing role as a launch point and source country for drugs from South America to Europe, emphasizing the risks and implications of drug trafficking across the Atlantic for the security of both Europe and South America.
Significant Implications
By placing the recently thwarted drug trafficking scheme from Brazil to Europe within the broader context of the thriving drug trade between South America and Europe, several implications can be drawn, including:
Increased cocaine supplies from South America to Europe: In just six years (from 2014 to 2020), global cocaine production doubled, leading to a 416% increase in the European cocaine market, which offers significantly greater growth potential compared to the more saturated U.S. market. Moreover, the risks of detection and seizure are considerably lower than in the United States. The illicit drug trade is impacting the European Union like never before. In 2022, EU member states seized record amounts of cocaine, totaling at least 323 tons—the highest amount ever confiscated in Europe. European seizures now exceed those conducted by the United States, a nation historically viewed as one of the largest markets for this drug. In 2021 alone, 303 tons of cocaine were seized in the U.S. Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands continue to report the largest quantities of seizures, reflecting their significance as entry points for cocaine into Europe.
The majority of cocaine shipped to Europe originates from South America. Key cocaine-producing countries include Colombia (61% of global production), Peru (26%), and Bolivia (13%), primarily through Brazilian, Ecuadorian, and Venezuelan ports. The Caribbean region serves as a main transit zone for smuggling cocaine to Europe, with the Dominican Republic and Jamaica playing key roles as traffic hubs.
Brazil’s increasing role as a major cocaine source: The recent operations analyzed here reveal how Brazil has become one of Europe’s largest suppliers of cocaine, dramatically altering the country’s role in transatlantic drug trafficking, and this shift has surprised drug enforcement authorities. Brazil, long viewed as a consumer country for cocaine—primarily a market for products manufactured in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia—has rapidly transformed into a crucial launch platform for transporting cocaine across the Atlantic.
Brazil has always had the potential to become a key cocaine source, located between coca production centers to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The three leading gangs in Brazil—the First Capital Command, the Red Command, and the Northern Family—have proven skilled in moving drugs over vast distances to supply Brazilian consumers. With global cocaine production doubling, particularly from South American countries and with Mexican gangs dominating the U.S. market, Brazilian gangs have set their sights on Europe, which offers higher cocaine prices than the U.S. due to the longer distances and also serves as an appealing hub for cocaine heading to burgeoning markets in the Middle East and Asia.
Growing reliance on maritime and aerial transportation methods for drugs to Europe: Approximately 70% of drug seizures by customs authorities occur at EU ports, with significant quantities of drugs, especially cocaine, discovered in multimodal shipping containers. Cocaine typically enters Europe through Spain and Portugal in the south and via Belgian and Dutch ports in the north, becoming further distributed in the European drug market. This reflects the criminal organizations’ ability to exploit opportunities provided by modern commercial transport infrastructure. For instance, in 2023, Spain reported the largest single seizure of cocaine in history, with 9.5 tons of drugs hidden in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador.
Investigations indicate that the crime network involved in the recent cocaine trafficking operation was arranging to remove the goods in which the drugs were concealed before inspection at the airport, with some cocaine also being smuggled by private planes to airports in Belgium, according to the authorities. It can be argued that the renewed reliance on air transport as a means of delivering drugs to Europe is connected to the lifting of transport restrictions relating to COVID-19.
The Brazilian port of Paranaguá providing an alternative route for cocaine’s transport to Europe: In the recent drug trafficking scheme from Brazil to Europe, traffickers utilized Atlantic shipping routes to send cocaine from South America to Europe, concealing the drugs in shipping vessels and by air, with a focus on Paranaguá port located in southern Brazil. The Italian mafia in Piedmont capitalized on the Brazilian infrastructure to ship large quantities of drugs, hidden in containers made of ceramics and wood, heading to the port of Valencia in Spain. This operation is part of Operation Retis, which began in 2022. Brazilian federal police were able to establish that those involved in drug trafficking were connected to a criminal faction in São Paulo and the Italian mafia responsible for acquiring and shipping the drugs.
The increasing importance of Paranaguá is underscored by a joint operation that took place on March 24, 2022, across three Brazilian states—Paraná, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo—resulting in the arrest of 17 individuals suspected of sending tons of cocaine to various European ports from Paranaguá over the past two years, according to a statement from Brazilian police. Additionally, several tons of drugs have been seized in recent years at Brazil’s fifth-largest port, with drugs intended for Spain and Germany.
However, the quantities of cocaine found in Paranaguá still pale in comparison to the volume transferred from Brazil’s largest and Latin America’s biggest port, Santos, which saw the seizure of nearly 17 tons of cocaine in 2021. Nonetheless, Paranaguá remains an important alternative route for transporting cocaine between Brazil and Europe, and has increasingly become relied upon by the alliance between the Brazilian First Capital Command and the Italian Ndrangheta.
The depth of European-South American coordination in drug combat: The success of Brazilian-Italian cooperation in thwarting the cocaine trafficking scheme underscores the deep coordination among South American and European nations in confronting the growing threats of transnational crime syndicates. This is not the first operation of its kind between law enforcement authorities on both sides. On November 5, 2024, in a long-term investigation supported by the European law enforcement agency (Europol), authorities from Belgium, Colombia, and Spain dismantled a drug trafficking gang that organized large-scale cocaine smuggling from Colombia to the EU, arresting 32 individuals, including the network’s leader.
In recent years, cooperation concerning illicit drug issues has become a priority for the strategic partnership between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. For instance, on May 7, 2024, European ministers met with their South American counterparts in Hamburg, Germany, against the backdrop of escalating drug-related violence confronting Europe. The ministerial meeting included representatives from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, along with attendees from Europol and South America, which is the main source of most cocaine imports into Europe.
In fact, the EU has undertaken a series of initiatives and measures to combat organized crime, such as launching the EU Security Union Strategy and the Roadmap for combating drug trafficking and organized crime. Furthermore, in 2023, the European Commission began negotiating international agreements on personal data exchange between Europol and a number of Latin American countries, and it launched the European Ports Alliance in January 2024 as part of its plans to tackle the increasing organized crime.
Serious Challenges
The thriving drug trade between South America and Europe poses a serious challenge for countries on both continents, as follows:
Rising national security threats: Transnational criminal gangs represent one of the unconventional threats to the national security of countries worldwide. Drug trafficking and smuggling networks are among the key causes of political instability in Latin American countries, as well as outcomes of that instability. The proliferation of violent conflicts between criminal gangs places additional burdens on security forces in the region, both across borders and within urban areas.
The increasing presence of drug trafficking gangs undermines the ability of states to control some border areas, against the backdrop of rising influence from criminal groups, gangs, and cartels in those areas, which threatens the security and stability of countries across the Atlantic. Additionally, concerns are rising regarding the recruitment and exploitation of minors by criminal networks involved in the illicit drug trade, particularly in Europe.
Escalating violence: There are growing concerns that certain countries are witnessing increases in violence and other forms of crime linked to the functioning of the drug market due to an increased availability of drugs and large-scale trafficking, along with bloody competition among criminal groups. Historically, producer and transit countries in Latin America bear the brunt of violent crimes associated with the drug market, and this remains the case. However, levels of drug-related violence appear to be increasing in Europe, especially in countries known to receive or produce large quantities of drugs. Currently, drug trafficking linked to organized crime gangs represents one of the most serious security threats to the EU. Nearly 40% of active criminal networks in the EU are involved in illicit drug trafficking. Approximately 50% of all murders in Europe are linked to drug trafficking.
Despite the Latin American and Caribbean region accounting for only 8% of the world’s population, it represents nearly one-third of global homicides, making it the most violent region worldwide. The political instability experienced by some countries in the region in recent years has coincided with declining public safety and increased cocaine supplies. There has been significant security deterioration, particularly in Ecuador, where the murder rate rose from 13.7 per 100,000 people in 2021 to nearly 45 in 2023, placing Ecuador among the top three most violent countries in Latin America.
The flourishing of shadow economies: Drug trafficking and smuggling activities are linked to numerous other illicit activities such as arms and human trafficking, as well as illegal mining and logging and money laundering, in addition to the fact that drug trafficking imposes heavy losses on national economies. For example, the Brazilian federal police and the Brazilian prosecutor’s office revealed that the criminal network involved in the thwarted cocaine smuggling operation from Brazil to Italy was engaged in complex money-laundering activities. It is estimated that over two billion reals (330.4 million USD) were involved in financial transactions between 2018 and 2022; thus, Brazilian and Italian courts ordered the freezing of assets and the seizure of real estate valued at 126 million reals, based on requests from prosecutors in both countries, along with the execution of 46 search and seizure warrants by Brazilian authorities.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) estimates that the illicit cocaine economy in Europe reaches 5.7 billion euros annually. According to the Development Bank of Latin America, the direct costs of crime in 22 Latin American countries accounted for 3.4% of GDP in 2022. These costs include the loss of human capital due to homicides, security expenditures by businesses, and public spending on crime prevention. Estimates by the United Nations suggest that the value of cross-border drug trafficking in Latin America amounts to 450 billion USD annually. In Latin America and the Caribbean, crime costs represent at least 3.5% of regional GDP—twice the levels seen in developed countries.
Threats to democratic systems: Some analysts and observers fear that the tendency of certain countries in Latin America and Europe to adopt a hardline approach against drug trafficking gangs could risk undermining the rule of law by justifying repressive methods that threaten human rights. In some Latin American countries, including El Salvador, the insecurity caused by armed groups and criminal gangs has forced residents in affected areas to support the “Mano Dura” (heavy-handed) approach, which entails increased police repression in an attempt to combat the strong feeling of insecurity resulting from drug gang violence.
Thus, the debate rekindles over the viability of “coercive” military solutions to security threats linked to drug trafficking, especially given the historical precedents of military rule in Latin America, along with allegations of repeated human rights violations by some military and police units, particularly in relation to extrajudicial killings, the corruption of security forces, and their collusion with criminal gangs—threatening democratic governance in the region.
In summary, it can be said that activities linked to cross-border drug trafficking represent an increasing challenge to the security and economy of South American and European countries, involving experienced criminal gangs on both sides. These gangs have developed diverse methods to evade law enforcement eyes and are increasingly targeting smaller ports in EU and South American countries, where deterrent and monitoring measures may be less intensive.
To confront the risks associated with transnational drug trafficking gangs, there is an urgent need to intensify cooperation between South American and European countries, and to support law enforcement authorities and judicial systems in both producer and transit countries in South America, focusing on finding root solutions to overcome the real causes of the resurgence of drug trafficking, particularly concerning poverty, social inequality, and corruption.
