EUROPOL DRUGS UNIT: Highlights from 1994
01 January 1991
EUROPOL DRUGS UNIT: Highlights from 1994
bacdoc February=1996
Source: Europol Drugs Unit, the Hague.
Press Release, March 1995
Now one year old, the EUROPOL DRUGS UNIT (EDU) has established
itself as a valuable aid in the fight against international drug
traffickers by European law enforcement agencies.
The EDU s contribution has included:
criminal intelligence
technical information (e.g. on chemicals used to manufacture
drugs)
special expertise (e.g. in money laundering)
co-ordination support (e.g. in cross-border controlled
deliveries).
The EDU has been involved in a number of successful operations;
for example: Intelligence from Belgium, France and the UK was
brought together within the EDU and passed on to the Greek ELO
(EUROPOL Liaison Officer). This led to the arrest of the three
persons believed responsible, being members of the crew, after
a drugs seizure on board a ship in a Greek port.
A major money laundering investigation in Germany was assisted
by the EDU analysts who provided the links identifying the
international criminal groups from other Member States involved.
The French office in charge of a multi-national investigation
invited - through France s liaison officer - the ELOs from six
other Member States to assist. This led to simultaneous
operations in three countries, controlled and conducted by the
individual national authorities but co-ordinated through the EDU
via the liaison officer network.
Just before a raid on an illicit laboratory in Belgium a car with
Italian number plates was spotted nearby. Urgent enquiries
through the EDU gave the officers access to sensitive data which
connected the laboratory with an international gang under
investigation elsewhere. This gave the police teams from both
countries a chance to co-operate before taking any further overt
action. A multi-national drugs investigation initiated in one
Member State produced new information which was passed on by the
respective ELO to the other five countries concerned. This
enabled them to launch their own enquiries, operating
independently (each in accordance with their relevant national
legislation) but co-ordinated within the EDU by the responsible
liaison officer holding regular meetings with the other ELOs.
The unique combination of benefits which the EDU has demonstrated
it can bring to international law enforcement activities are:
SPEED of response to requests for information, through 24 hour
availability of skilled personnel supported by modern technology;
ACCURACY and RELEVANCE of information obtained directly from
national units in relation to the specific enquiry;
absolute CONFIDENTIALITY between providers and recipients of
sensitive data; immediate ACCESS to a variety of law enforcement
agencies (police, gendarmerie, customs) from the whole of the
European Union;
no LANGUAGE barriers (investigators from the Member States will
always deal with ELOs who are fellow nationals and who in turn
will be able to communicate directly, face to face, with
colleagues from other countries);
EXPERTISE on international organised crime, investigative
techniques, and the national legislation of all EU Member States;
the ability to upgrade INTELLIGENCE through analysis and sharing;
a one stop shop SERVICE (one ELO will normally handle all
aspects of a case from start to finish, however complex, and
however many people or tasks are involved; the investigator or
enquirer is not passed on from one person or office to another).
The EUROPOL Drugs Unit provides an EU - wide platform for law
enforcement related conferences, exchanges of expertise and of
new scientific developments in the field of international
organised crime. It also organises the meetings of the Heads of
National Criminal Intelligence Services of the European Union.
The EDU is developing informal contacts with OICP Interpol and
the World Customs Organisation (WCO) t