Hungarian and Slovak police bust international drug ring

Hungarian and Slovak police and special forces seized the largest gun arsenal in Hungary in the past 25 years, as well as drugs, cash and valuables, and arrested several people in an international operation against a drug trafficking ring last week, officers told a joint press conference on Wednesday.

Rudolf Patka of Slovakia’s National Criminal Agency (NAKA) and Zoltán Boross of Hungary’s National Investigation Office (NNI) said that operation PARKETAR was the result of an investigation started in December 2021. On July 12, police forces searched 12 properties in western Hungary, western Slovakia and Vienna. They seized drugs, cash, illegal firearms, gold bars and jewelry, among other luxury items, they said.

Read also: Hungarian paramedic curses during CPR, gets reported

Altogether 16 people were charged with trafficking methamphetamines and cocaine to Slovakia via Mexican and Romanian drug cartels in Vienna. The organisation is alleged to have smuggled over 100kg of cocaine into the country since 2016, they said.

The charges are punishable with 20-25 years in prison, they said.

House searches in the properties of a Slovak national yielded the largest arsenal of firearms found in Hungary in the past 25 years, the officers said. Police have seized 59 live firearms, 45,000 ammunition and other equipment, as well as explosives, they said.