The Hague-based agency to fight international and organized crime says it has dealt a ‘major blow’ to narco traffickers.
Published on January 21, 2026
European police have dismantled a large network of illegal labs manufacturing synthetic drugs in several countries.
Polish prosecutors announced Wednesday that investigators have seized more than 9.3 tons of drugs and arrested more than 100 suspects in an operation targeting a criminal network centered in the Central European country and spanning the European Union.
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The operation destroyed 24 industrial-scale laboratories and seized about 1,000 tons of chemicals, legally imported from China and India, used to make street drugs such as MDMA, amphetamines and meth, news agency AFP reported.
Andy Krag, head of Europol’s European Serious Organized Crime Centre, which coordinates police operations across borders, said the operation dealt a “major blow to organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking”.
“I’ve been in this business for a while. This is the biggest operation we’ve ever done against synthetic drug production and distribution,” he said.
The year-long operation involved police from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Among those arrested were two suspected innkeepers, both from Poland, Krag said.
There were laboratories and drug production lines in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, which served as logistical hubs.
Most of those arrested were from Poland, but Belgian and Dutch nationals are also believed to be involved.
In 2024, Polish police became suspicious when they saw a network importing large quantities of chemicals from China and India.
Investigators found they were being repackaged, mislabelled and redistributed to laboratories across the EU.
Cragg said the operation was part of a “supply-chain strategy” to shut down the synthetic drug industry at its source.
“These criminal groups no longer have their supplies,” he said.