ZAGREB, March 8, 2018 - Croatian police have busted a drug smuggling ring and seized 100 kilograms of cocaine smuggled from South America to the European Union via Europe.

The Croatian Ministry of the Interior has reported on its website that eight people have been arrested in Croatia and Slovenia in connection with the case. Among those arrested is a 48-year-old Spaniard, a 43-year-old national of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands, and six Croatian nationals aged 39-59.

Hina has learned that among those arrested is also Stjepan Prnjat, who in 2007 was mentioned in connection with a police operation that helped bust a European heroin and cocaine smuggling ring that also involved Croatia.

The cocaine seized in this latest operation in the seaport of Rijeka had been reportedly bought in Panama, the anti-corruption office USKOK said on its website, describing how drug smugglers hid the drug in a container with 20 tonnes of mixed metal waste and transported it from Panama to Croatia, namely the area of Zagreb, where the drug was to have been unloaded.

In order to hide their operations, in 2017 the smugglers organised the arrival of containers with merchandise of low value from South America to Europe, using companies based in Croatia.

Before the latest drug seizure at the Rijeka port, the police discovered around 150 kilograms of marijuana and 69,000 packets of smuggled cigarettes.

Involved in the police operation, aside from Croatian police, were the police forces of Slovenia, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Panama, and Columbia as well as the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Europol.

The estimated market price of the drug confiscated in the latest operation is between 21,000 euro and 33,000 euro per kilogram.

"This is one of the most complex operations of this kind in the history of Croatian police. The operation was coordinated from an office set up at the Croatian Police Directorate and involved police forces from seven countries, the DEA and Europol. The operation puts Croatian police at the very top in terms of the quantity of drugs discovered and the number of participants and countries involved," said Croatian Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, who was attending a meeting of EU ministers of the interior in Brussels on Thursday.