Tirana Police Chief Bernard Caushaj announced on Monday that police had sequestered more than four million euro in assets from two convicted narcotics traffickers.

The seizure of 400kg of cocaine yesterday is the third biggest seizure of illegal drugs by the Irish authorities.

Spanish authorities busted an international cocaine trafficking ring. In the frames of the operation, which took two months, authorities arrested 36 people, mainly Latin-Americans, La Informacion informed.

While cocaine production ravages countries in Central America, consumers in the US and Europe are helping developed economies grow rich from the profits, a study claims

Thirty people were arrested during an international operation against a Bulgarian-Italian cocaine smuggling ring. The operation, codenamed “Kings of Cocaine,” has been ongoing for several years, but suffered a setback in 2008 due to an information leak.

The defendants were arrested last April in Austria and Slovenia, during an international police operation codenamed “Spider Web.”

Eight people have been charged for their part in the “biggest ever” cocaine ring in Sweden, in which several tons of cocaine at a value of 4.5 billion kronor ($665 million) had been imported from Colombia.

A senior official with Europol, the EU crime-busting agency, has voiced concern about "worrying" new trends in the illegal drugs market.

Men from Brazil, Santo Domingo, Paraguay stopped at Malpensa.

Gains made in tackling global use of cocaine and heroin are being offset by rising consumption of synthetic and prescription drugs, the UN says