Police have arrested 22 suspects in an operation across five countries that dismantled one of Europe’s top criminal groups behind drug trafficking and assassinations, the EU’s police agency has said.

The operation, codenamed Icebreaker, which took place last week, led to the arrest of the alleged ringleader, a 48-year-old Lithuanian, in Spain and other suspects in Poland, Lithuania, Spain and Britain, Europol said.

The “highly professional and dangerous” gang was involved in “large-scale drug and cigarette trafficking, assassinations and money laundering”, netting an estimated €680m (£600m) over the past two years, it said.

About 450 police raided 40 properties, seizing €8m in cash, diamonds, gold bars, jewellery and luxury vehicles, as well as finding hidden compartments used to smuggle drugs, Europol said in a statement.

The gang made most of its money by trafficking drugs and cigarettes into Britain and then smuggling the cash to Poland, where it was laundered in currency exchange offices and invested in property in Spain and other countries, said Europol.

The operation, which also involved Estonian police, took place on 15-16 May and was the “biggest of its kind to date in Europe against such an organised crime group”, the agency said.

The group used specialised encrypted communication devices and counter-surveillance techniques to try to stay a step ahead of police, Europol said.

The British end of the operation was run by HM Revenue and Customs, which said three men were arrested in Coventry in the West Midlands, and had been charged with money-laundering offences. A fourth man, a 42-year-old Lithuanian, was detained on a European arrest warrant on suspicion of money laundering and is facing extradition to Lithuania.

HMRC said the men charged were Arturs Nespors, 29, of no fixed abode in the UK, who has been charged with entering into or being concerned in acquisition or retention or use or control of criminal property between 1 March 2019 and 16 May 2019. Alexksej Rybnikov, 42, also of no fixed UK abode, faces the same charge. Neither of these two accused gave an indication of their plea to the accusations. The third man charged was Marius Stancikas, 40, from Broad Street in Coventry, who has pleaded not guilty to the same money-laundering charge.

All three men have been remanded in custody and will next appear at Birmingham crown court in June.