In what organizers are calling the largest coordinated anti-organized crime operation between Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe to date, a massive international law enforcement initiative dubbed Operation ATLAS NEXUS has taken down dozens of transnational criminal networks and resulted in more than 490 arrests across 35 participating nations, including the Caribbean island nation of Dominica.
The joint initiative, led by the Belgian Federal Police, brought together thousands of law enforcement officers, customs agents, and judicial officials from three continents to crack down on five of the most harmful illegal markets that fuel cross-border criminal activity: drug trafficking, human trafficking, document fraud, firearms trafficking, and environmental crime. Operational coordination was carried out through EMPACT Operational Action 6.1, which prioritizes targeting the world’s most dangerous criminal networks and individuals, with additional coordination from FRONTEX and CARICOM IMPACS. The operation received core funding and support from EL PACCTO 2.0, the European Union’s dedicated security and justice cooperation program for the Latin America and Caribbean region. A broad coalition of global security bodies also backed the initiative, including AMERIPOL, EUROPOL, INTERPOL, MAOC(N), the Regional Security System, CRIMARIO II, SEACOP VI, and the Italian-funded Interpol I-CAN initiative.
Over the course of coordinated enforcement actions, authorities carried out 595 formal search warrants and monitored more than 110 aircraft, 28 commercial vessels, 415 ground vehicles, and 271 shipping containers across 28 pre-designated checkpoints. More than 8,680 on-the-ground personnel took part in national enforcement phases of the operation.
Seizures from the operation reached a combined total of more than 156.9 tonnes of illicit material, alongside a wide range of other illegal contraband and assets. Among the most significant seizures were 37.6 tonnes of cocaine and 118.6 tonnes of cannabis. Additional contraband recovered included 201 unregistered firearms, 3,131 rounds of ammunition and explosive materials, 803 illegally trafficked wild animals and livestock, $135,000 in untraced cash and cryptocurrency, 0.83 kilograms of illegally mined gold, 468 counterfeit and fraudulent identity documents, 464 pieces of stolen jewellery, 169 illegally acquired properties, and one vehicle linked to criminal activity. Law enforcement also successfully rescued and provided support to 18 human trafficking victims freed from criminal networks during the operation.
The operation yielded several high-impact breakthroughs beyond routine seizures and arrests: investigators uncovered Ireland’s first ever detected cocaine processing laboratory, and identified two previously unknown illegal gold mining operations in French Guiana. Authorities also submitted 37 official INTERPOL notices, including 17 high-priority red notices for the arrest of fugitive criminals still at large. Australia made an outsize contribution to the drug seizure total, playing a central role in the interception of more than 5.6 tonnes of cocaine bound for criminal networks across the globe.
A full list of the 35 nations that took part in the operation includes: Germany, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, the United States, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom, St Lucia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.