America News Agency

According to the Spanish newspaper Narco Diario, Godfather is one of twelve people arrested as part of an international criminal organization.

According to the newspaper, the operation began in early 2023 when Spanish police investigated a large international criminal organization based in Spain's Costa del Sol region.

Members of the group are said to be citizens of Albania, Colombia, Morocco and Sweden, with direct links to the main centres of international drug trafficking in Colombia, Ecuador and Dubai.

Narco Diario writes that Swedish authorities were involved in the collaboration that led to the arrest, but Swedish police would not confirm this to SVT.

According to information provided to SVT, one of those arrested is a former gang leader known as "The Godfather", as referred to by the Spanish newspaper.

He was the leader of the Södertälje Network. This mafia-like criminal gang operated in Södertälje for most of the 2010s and was involved in various criminal activities such as robbery, extortion, drug trafficking and murder. In 2017, "Baba" was sentenced to 12 years in prison in France for drug trafficking but did not serve the full sentence.

SVT's krämänal correspondent Diamant Salihu says that "Baba" has long been thought to play an important role in organized crime but has kept quiet since his conviction in France.

"Only now is he coming out. Interestingly, people from many different countries are suspected of working together to smuggle cocaine from South America to Europe, and he is accused of playing a key role.

According to Salihu, Europol considers "The Godfather" to be "a high-value target, a key person who is a priority to reach.

According to Narco Diario, "The Godfather" personally travelled to Colombia during the operation to directly negotiate the transportation of the drugs and was arrested there.