Latin American Crime Groups Expand Across Europe as Cocaine Seizures Surge

Latin American criminal organizations have expanded their operations across Europe, establishing connections with local mafia groups and contributing to a growing cocaine trafficking market, according to a four-month investigation published by The Guardian on October 13, 2026. Authorities have identified these networks in at least 12 European countries, while Brazilian prosecutors say one major group operates in 16.

The investigation found that cocaine seizures across Europe increased by 471% between 2014 and 2024. Law enforcement agencies have also dismantled more laboratories processing cocaine derivatives, reflecting the expanding reach of criminal organizations originating in Latin America.

A report from the São Paulo public prosecutor's office, based partly on Brazilian Intelligence Agency data and reviewed by The Guardian, identifies the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in 16 European countries. Its reported presence includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

The Guardian's investigation identified organizations originating in Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States. Their documented activities are concentrated in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, with additional operations recorded in Germany, Romania, Croatia and Slovakia. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime also includes Bulgaria.

The groups named include Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG); Colombia's Clan del Golfo, ELN and dissident FARC factions; Brazil's PCC and Comando Vermelho; Venezuela's Tren de Aragua; and the US-originated Barrio 18 and MS-13 gangs.

Daniel Brombacher, a political scientist and director of the Europe Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said the expansion has brought criminal groups into territories without established infrastructure.

"There is something new happening with a presence of Latin American groups in geographies where there's no pre-existing infrastructure."

Brombacher said the activity now extends beyond traditional entry points into Europe, with police investigations uncovering operations in additional countries.

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

The investigation also cited the assessment of Víctor Manuel Sánchez Valdés, an organized crime expert at the Autonomous University of Coahuila in Mexico, who identified major Mexican, Brazilian, Colombian, Ecuadorian and Venezuelan organizations as active players in international criminal markets.

"The main ones are the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco cartel [CJNG] in Mexico; the Comando Vermelho and the PCC of Brazil; the Gulf Clan and different factions of the Colombian Farc; the Lobos and the Choneros of Ecuador; and Tren de Aragua of Venezuela."

Sánchez Valdés said the presence of Mexican cartels across Europe may be broader than official records suggest. He distinguished between organizations controlling territory and representatives conducting business on their behalf.

"Sinaloa cartel and the CJNG have a presence in more than 20 European countries. Obviously, that does not mean they dominate or have large cells. Rather, they are business emissaries."

The investigation traced the expansion to a sharp increase in cocaine production in Latin America and Europe's growing importance as a consumer market. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's 2026 World Drug Report, global cocaine production in 2024 reached between 3,800 and 4,700 tonnes, more than four times the 2014 level.

Colombia remains a major source of the drug, with coca cultivation covering a record 385,000 hectares across South America over the past decade, three times the 2014 figure. The Guardian reported that Latin American drug production had increased approximately fourfold over the same period, reaching about 4,100 tonnes in 2024.

European markets offer criminal organizations higher profit margins than the United States, according to the investigation. European police have confiscated more drugs than American forces since the beginning of the decade, while Europe accounts for approximately one-quarter of global cocaine consumption.

Europol reported that 149 of the 731 most threatening criminal networks operating across Europe have links to Latin American organizations. Of those, 67 have Latin American members, while 22 consist predominantly of Latin Americans.

A Europol report also stated that Latin American most threatening criminal networks have established themselves within the European Union and direct operations affecting the bloc, including activities involving organized property crime.

The presence of Latin American criminal organizations in Europe predates the current expansion. Colombian groups, including the Cali and Medellín cartels, had established footholds in parts of Spain by the 1980s, and Europol warned of their growing influence in a 2013 report.