Latin American Organized Crime Expands into at Least 12 European Countries

A four-month Guardian investigation shows that the surge in cocaine smuggling into Europe is directly linked to the growing presence of Latin American criminal networks on the continent, where they have built close ties with local mafia organizations.

Drawing on databases, police and intelligence sources, and interviews with judges, prosecutors and experts in eight countries, the investigation found that gangs and factions from Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States are operating in at least 12 European countries. Between 2014 and 2024, cocaine seizures rose 471 percent, and a growing number of local labs processing cocaine derivatives have been dismantled.

The real figure may be higher, since it includes only groups formally identified in Europe through police operations, cross-border investigations and pending cases involving brokers, active members, cells or operational networks. It does not include gangs with no physical presence in Europe that work in joint ventures with European mafias.

The groups identified include Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG); Colombia's Clan del Golfo mafia and the ELN guerrilla group along with dissident Farc factions; Brazil's Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV); Venezuela's Tren de Aragua; and the US-rooted Barrio 18 and MS-13 gangs, which are also prevalent in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and, to a lesser extent, Mexico.

These organizations have established a more prominent presence in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, while their activity has also been recorded in Germany, Romania, Croatia and Slovakia. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (Gi-Toc) adds Bulgaria to the list.

Daniel Brombacher, a political scientist and director of the Europe Observatory at Gi-Toc, said: "Something new is happening with the presence of Latin American groups in territories that previously lacked any infrastructure."

"This phenomenon is no longer limited to the traditional gateway countries," he said. "Recent police operations have uncovered methamphetamine labs run by Mexicans in southern France, northeastern Poland and Brandenburg, south of Berlin. Latin American groups are also appearing in Romania and Bulgaria along the Balkan route."

Latin American authorities and experts believe the list could be longer still. An unpublished report by the São Paulo prosecutor's office, based partly on data from Brazilian intelligence agency Abin that the Guardian reviewed, indicates that the PCC — now Brazil's largest criminal group — operates in 16 European countries, including the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Suspicions that Latin American gangs and factions are seeking to establish a presence in Europe are not new. Since at least the 1980s, Colombian criminal organizations such as the Cali and Medellín cartels have had a foothold in parts of Spain such as Galicia. In 2013, a Europol report warned of their rise. But what authorities are now witnessing is on a different scale.

A Europol report this year stated: "Latin American high-risk criminal networks (MTCNs) have also settled within the EU, running operations from there that affect the EU. This is particularly true of mobile criminal networks involved in organized crime."

Interpol, led by Brazilian federal police officer Valdecy Urquiza, was contacted but has not commented.

The problem has become clearer over the past decade. Drug production in Latin America has roughly quadrupled in that time, reaching a record of about 4,100 tonnes in 2024. That followed an increase of up to 35 percent at the start of the decade. Colombia now produces more cocaine than it did during the era of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. Nearly all of the world's cocaine and many related substances originate in Latin America, particularly Colombia.

Víctor Manuel Sánchez Valdés, a scholar at the Autonomous University of Coahuila in Mexico and an expert on organized crime, said: "The main groups are Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco [CJNG]; Brazil's Comando Vermelho and PCC; Colombia's Clan del Golfo and various Farc factions; Ecuador's Lobos and Choneros; and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua."

He believes the Latin American presence in Europe is more widespread than is commonly acknowledged. "The Sinaloa cartel and CJNG are present in more than 20 European countries. Clearly, that does not mean they dominate or have large groups," he said. "Instead, they are business envoys."

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime's 2026 World Drug Report on illicit crime put global cocaine output in 2024 at between 3,800 and 4,700 tonnes — more than four times the 2014 figure. South America remains the main production hub, with coca cultivation reaching a record 385,000 hectares over the decade — three times the 2014 figure.

Europe has emerged as a key market because it offers organizations higher profit margins than the United States. Since the start of the decade, European police have seized more drugs than US forces, and data shows Europe now accounts for about a quarter of global consumption.

Europol recently reported that of 731 MTCNs operating across Europe, 149 have links to Latin American organizations. Of those, 67 have Latin American members, and 22 are made up mainly of Latin Americans.