A drug investigation uncovered a global clandestine banking network, with 21 suspects arrested and assets worth €20 million identified
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An investigation launched from a cocaine seizure off the coast of Spain led authorities to a clandestine financial network used to finance drug trafficking and move criminal proceeds between countries. The Spanish National Police, with the support of Europol and authorities from several countries, arrested 21 suspects and identified, seized, or blocked assets worth approximately 20 million euros.
An investigation launched five years ago after a vessel loaded with cocaine was intercepted off the coast of Spain led authorities to a clandestine financial infrastructure used, according to Europol, to finance international drug trafficking and launder proceeds from criminal activities. The operation led by the Spanish National Police resulted in the arrest of 21 suspects, including a person designated by Europol as a High Value Target, while assets worth approximately 20 million euros were identified, seized, or frozen.
In brief
1. The operation led to the arrest of 21 suspects for offenses including participation in a criminal organization, drug trafficking, and money laundering.
2. Fifteen people were arrested in Spain on July 22, 2026, and another six in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and the Netherlands.
3. Among those arrested is a suspect associated with the clandestine network referred to by investigators as “Dubai Bank,” whom Europol considers a High Value Target.
4. Authorities identified, seized, or blocked approximately 20 million euros in assets, including 48 properties, luxury vehicles, and 121 bank accounts.
5. The investigation began with the seizure of 1,835 kg of cocaine in 2021 and subsequently led to the discovery of a second shipment of 1,650 kg hidden on the same vessel.
Operation DRAKKAR began in February 2021, when the Spanish National Police intercepted a vessel off the coast of Spain and discovered 1,835 kilograms of cocaine on board. The nine crew members were arrested, and after the drugs were seized, the vessel was towed to the port of Gijón. Shortly afterward, the vessel sank after it began taking on water through a crack that investigators suspect was caused by the captain.
The investigation took on another dimension after authorities discovered that a second shipment, of approximately 1,650 kilograms of cocaine, had also been hidden on board. According to Europol, members of the criminal network subsequently entered the wreck to recover this cargo. Both shipments had been loaded in South America in January 2021 and were to be transferred at sea to speedboats that would bring the drugs ashore in Spain.
As investigators tracked down the people behind the shipment, the case expanded beyond the initial operation. Links emerged to other suspected drug-trafficking activities in several regions, and following the money trail led to the people who allegedly financed the shipments and managed the proceeds. In this way, the investigation reached a clandestine financial network capable of rapidly moving value between multiple jurisdictions without each transaction requiring a conventional international bank transfer.
At the center of the case is a network known to investigators as “Dubai Bank.” Europol says it allegedly made substantial sums of money available to criminal organizations in different countries, sometimes within a very short period, providing the infrastructure needed both to finance drug shipments and to move the proceeds from their sale.
The mechanism described by Europol relies on brokers, internal settlements, and the use of assets or companies to balance transfers between jurisdictions. Instead of money being sent directly from one country to another for each operation, cash could be deposited in one location, while the equivalent amount was paid to the recipient elsewhere by a local intermediary. Balances between brokers could subsequently be settled through commercial transactions, bank accounts, cash, or transfers of other assets.
The network allegedly operated on a commission basis, and investigators also identified a simple mechanism for authenticating cash payments. A unique identifier, often the serial number of a banknote, could be passed between the people involved in the transfer, and the recipient would present it when collecting the money to prove that they were the correct recipient. The system allowed transactions to be carried out outside traditional banking channels while retaining a verification mechanism among participants.
Among those arrested is a key player in the “Dubai Bank” network, designated by Europol as a High Value Target. The agency describes him as a suspect who allegedly played a central role in providing financial services for major drug-trafficking operations worldwide, explaining why the financial investigation gradually became as important as the inquiry into the cocaine shipments.
The operation’s main day of action took place in Spain on July 22, 2026, and ended with 15 arrests. Spanish authorities simultaneously issued 19 international warrants for suspects outside the country, six of which have already been executed: four people were arrested in the United Arab Emirates, one in Egypt, and one in the Netherlands.
The suspects are being investigated for offenses including participation in a criminal organization, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Alongside the arrests, authorities tracked the assets and accounts associated with the people under investigation, and the value of the assets identified, seized, or frozen reached approximately 20 million euros.
This amount includes 48 properties valued at more than 14 million euros, luxury vehicles worth more than 1.6 million euros, and 121 bank accounts containing approximately 2.3 million euros. The financial investigation also identified a luxury property in Ibiza that authorities suspect was purchased with funds originating from illegal activities.
Europol supported the investigation through international information exchange and operational and financial analysis, which helped identify important intermediaries in the network. Since October 2024, the case has also benefited from an Operational Taskforce established within the agency, and during the operation in Spain, a money-laundering specialist was deployed to the field together with a mobile office.
The international dimension of the network made cooperation among several authorities necessary. Institutions from the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States contributed to the investigation, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, while the operation was also supported through the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats, EMPACT, the European cooperation mechanism against organized and serious crime.
For investigators, one of the case’s main stakes is the financial infrastructure behind drug trafficking. Large international shipments require capital before the drugs are sold, and the proceeds subsequently obtained must be moved between countries and integrated into financial circuits that conceal their origin. Underground banking networks can provide both services, connecting cash providers, traffickers, brokers, and final beneficiaries.
Operation DRAKKAR shows how an investigation that begins with a specific shipment can advance to the upper financial levels of organized crime. Rather than stopping at a vessel’s crew or the people who were supposed to receive the drugs, the investigation followed the money trail and reached the actors suspected of financially supporting multiple international operations.
Underground banking refers to informal or clandestine systems through which value is transferred between people and jurisdictions outside conventional banking channels. These mechanisms may use cash, brokers, companies, bank accounts, or commercial transactions to offset amounts owed between participants.
For organizations involved in drug trafficking, such networks may be used both before a shipment, to finance the purchase and logistics, and after the sale, to move and launder criminal proceeds. Financial investigations allow authorities to track these structures beyond individual trafficking operations and identify the actors who provide the infrastructure necessary for their operation.
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