Fifteen people were arrested across Australia, Spain, Sweden and Thailand after investigators traced an international drug trafficking and money laundering network back to two mobile phones seized in a small Swedish town.
Coordinated actions on 4 March included about 20 house searches in Spain, Sweden and Thailand, with Europol helping to coordinate the operation from its headquarters, European police authority informed in a statement on Friday.
Thirteen arrests were made in those three countries — four in Spain, six in Sweden and three in Thailand — with two earlier arrests in Australia bringing the total to 15.
Investigators said forensic work on the seized phones revealed multiple interconnected criminal networks rather than a single gang, linked by encrypted communications, international contacts and a web of companies and other structures.
The case began in November 2023, when Swedish authorities seized the two phones from a local drug trafficker.
Drugs intercepted in Germany, arrests in Australia
A shipment of 1.2 tonnes of illicit drugs destined for Australia was intercepted in Germany, with the Australian distributors waiting for it later identified and arrested, Europol said.
German Customs detected and seized the drugs in February 2025 after examining two shipping containers that were listed as carrying a product commonly used in road building.
German authorities removed the illicit substances before allowing the containers to be shipped to Australia, and police later inserted an inert substance and tracked the delivery after it arrived at the Port of Melbourne in April 2025.
The consignment was delivered to a warehouse in Victoria’s central highlands and then to a factory in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine.
Two men aged 32 and 52 are before the courts in Australia charged over the alleged importation attempt.
Police also identified activity linked to the same networks including an online drug distribution business supplying customers in the Nordic region from Thailand, domestic drug distribution and money laundering structures in Sweden, and a suspect in Spain described as facilitating large-scale narcotics trafficking.
Assets worth €4 million were seized during the operation, with more assets still being traced.
In a separate assessment referenced by Europol, 86% of the EU’s most threatening criminal networks misuse legal business structures to facilitate operations, conceal illicit activity and launder profits.
