A group of international law enforcement partners will come together to go after some of the most dangerous drugs traffickers in the world.

The National Crime Agency, Western Balkan and international partners will work together in a new group to fight organised crime groups from the Western Balkans that smuggle cocaine from South America to Europe, devastating communities across the route.

The announcement comes as the UK hosts the annual Western Balkans summit in London.

It brings together leaders from across the six Western Balkans countries and other high-level representatives from Europe to support stability and increase regional cooperation. 

In March, the NCA will host the new operational working group which will enhance collaboration, share intelligence and set out a list of high-value Western Balkan targets to pursue.

Kate Appleby, NCA deputy director, said: “The group will harness some of the best subject matter experts in the world and will focus its efforts on disrupting those OCGs involved in the source-to-street supply of cocaine.

“Such is their grip on global cocaine supply, Western Balkans drugs groups pose a threat across Europe and to South American nations where bloodshed and murder are inseparable from cocaine production and trafficking.

“The NCA will use its global reach and expertise with summit partners to agree an operational focus on the offenders and networks that pose the greatest threat to all member nations.”

Although there is a low incidence of cocaine trafficking and consumption in the Western Balkan region compared to other Western European countries, these OCGs have established a strong foothold at source in Latin America, as well as throughout the supply chain, including in the Caribbean, West Africa, and at various ports in Europe.

They have evolved from minor European players into significant international criminal networks with a resilient business model and have developed relationships at both ends of the lucrative supply chain. OCGs have benefited from record production in South America and an insatiable demand in Europe.

In the last two years collaboration with summit partners as well as those in South America and the European Union has led to the arrest of a number of serious and organised criminals and the disruption of their OCGs.

The UK has one of the highest rates of cocaine use in the world and with more than 1,000 deaths per year.

Tackling illegal drug supply is critical to making the streets of the UK safer, as drug use and drug related deaths continue to increase and there has never been a more dangerous time to take illicit drugs.

In addition, the drugs trade, ‘turf wars’, criminal debt and feuds are key drivers of firearms-enabled serious violence. Some feuds are longstanding, and result in periodic escalations of violence with entirely innocent members of the public tragically caught in the crossfire.

16 October 2025