– The case, now regarded as the largest strike against drug crime in Europe, was initiated and has been conducted since 2022 by officers of the Department for Combating Drug Crime of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, with the support of officers of the Investigative Department of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław – reports Commissioner Przemysław Ratajczyk of the Press Section of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław. – The entire proceedings and the activities carried out are supervised by the Lower Silesian Branch of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Wrocław.
Thanks to months of advanced operational activities, Lower Silesian police officers deciphered the international mechanism for importing, repackaging and distributing chemical precursors used to produce synthetic drugs in illegal laboratories operating in Poland and many Western European countries. Officers established that these substances – legally imported, among others, from China and India – entered the European Union through various countries and were then transported to Poland, where an organized criminal group coordinated their further distribution throughout Europe.
During the case, a total of 24 laboratories and production lines for synthetic drugs were shut down in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Poland; 1,000 tons of chemical precursors were seized and more than 85 people were arrested.
Spokesperson: – In total, during the operations carried out so far, nearly 9.3 tons of drugs were discovered and seized. The activities also included shutting down industrial-scale production sites, searches and the seizure of property.
The culmination of the years-long operation took place on January 16 this year, when another key phase of the case was conducted in Poland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Nearly 400 police officers took part in the activities carried out in Poland, operating simultaneously across four provinces.
The operation was carried out by officers of the Department for Combating Drug Crime of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław and the Investigative Department of the Lower Silesian provincial command, with the support of the criminal division of the Lower Silesian Police, as well as representatives of the police forces of Germany, the Netherlands and Spain and experts from Europol.
Specialized units and expert divisions were also involved, including officers of the Criminal Bureau of the National Police Headquarters, the Criminal Intelligence Department of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, the Central Police Counter-Terrorist Subdivision "BOA", Independent Police Counter-Terrorist Subdivisions from Warsaw, Radom, Kielce, Lublin, Białystok and Łódź, the Forensic Laboratory of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, the Forensic Laboratory of the Warsaw Metropolitan Police Headquarters, the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Police, operational groups from the Warsaw Metropolitan Police Headquarters, forensic technicians from the Municipal Police Headquarters in Wrocław and the Warsaw Metropolitan Police Headquarters, as well as the Mazovian Customs and Tax Office.
The operation also involved top specialists from the Poznań Branch of the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime and other regional branches. Their knowledge and specialist skills were essential for securing data from electronic devices seized during the activities, as well as cryptocurrencies held by the arrested individuals.
The result? Spokesperson:
During the operation in Poland, 19 people were arrested. Officers seized, among other things, at least 700 tons of drug precursors, nine vehicles worth approximately PLN 4.5 million and more than PLN 360,000 in cash. Police also identified property worth at least PLN 10 million for seizure, as well as approximately 2 kg of marijuana. Funds held in the bank accounts of the arrested individuals were also blocked to cover potential future penalties.
Of the arrested individuals, a court ordered pre-trial detention for three months for four men. They include people responsible for leading the criminal group. For the remaining individuals, the prosecutor imposed bail, police supervision, a ban on contact with other suspects and a travel ban. The arrested individuals were charged, among other things, with participation in and leading an organized criminal group, producing significant quantities of drugs and money laundering.
At the same time, in Germany, officers discovered warehouses containing chemical precursors, a cannabis plantation with at least 2,000 plants and more than 10,500 liters of waste from the production of synthetic drugs. Two people were arrested at the site.
In Belgium, searches were conducted at two locations, where officers discovered a warehouse of chemical substances, equipment for growing cannabis and devices for producing cigarettes.
The dismantled criminal group operated through three legally registered companies in Poland and was also involved in money laundering. The production of synthetic drugs generated huge quantities of toxic waste, posing a serious threat to the natural environment.
The perpetrators brought legal chemicals into Europe that are normally used, for example, in the pharmaceutical industry. However, the quantities of these substances were very large and had nothing to do with the actual needs of legitimate companies. In practice, only small quantities of such chemicals are used in legal production. Police also established that during repackaging, the chemicals were deliberately mislabeled so that they could easily reach illegal laboratories, where drugs were produced.
During the proceedings, it was established that the group may have imported more than 1,000 tons of precursors – enough to produce more than 300 tons of synthetic drugs such as MDMA, amphetamine and cathinone. It is estimated that this practice generated huge profits for the criminal groups involved.
This case demonstrates that close international cooperation, initiated through the work of Lower Silesian police officers, made it possible to effectively strike at drug crime operating across the borders of European countries.
Officers sum up:
This is a blow that will shake the foundations of European drug crime for a long time.