The EU Agency for Judicial Cooperation is stepping up its fight against organised crime

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union agency for judicial cooperation, Eurojust, launched a new network on Wednesday to strengthen and further coordinate the continent's fight against organized crime.

The first priority of the European Judicial Network against Organised Crime will be to combat drug-related crime. The number of drug trafficking cases at Eurojust has doubled since 2020. The organisation said it worked on nearly 2,500 cases in 2023, resulting in the seizure of more than 25 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of drugs.

A statement from Eurojust said that tackling criminal gangs, which generate an estimated €139 billion in illicit profits each year, “requires a transnational approach that is fast, flexible and able to adapt to an ever-changing criminal landscape.”

Evi Franco, a federal judge at Belgium's federal prosecutor's office who deals with combating organised crime gangs, welcomed the new network and said it would improve communication between prosecutors in the bloc's 27 countries.

“Only through closer cooperation can we combat large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, but also human smuggling and trafficking. We must work together to prevent organised crime from gaining the upper hand,” she told reporters in an online briefing.

Earlier this year, Belgian authorities said customs seized 116 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Antwerp in 2023, setting a record for the second year in a row. Authorities blame the rapidly growing drug trade for outbreaks of violence in major port cities such as Antwerp, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Marseille in France.

Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran said the new network would speed up cooperation between different countries seeking to combat drug trafficking.

“By working more closely together and aligning member states' justice strategies, we are sending a clear message: organised crime knows no borders, but neither does our determination to investigate and prosecute it,” Hamran said in a statement.