Narcotics and more narcotics--and the risk to business is real

Call it a flood. Or choose to ignore it.

Still, the cocaine just keeps on coming. And drug gangs just keep on secretly co-opting legitimate businesses to get the narco job done.

But you will have to stick around to the end to get that part of today's blog. First, a short bit on Ukraine (although most of today's post will focus on the cocaine at hand).

The cease fire that is not...

Three years since the all-out invasion of Ukraine, and we are no closer to a cease fire than... well, three years go.

It appears that Donald Trump and his advisors either 1) are finding out that negotiations with Russia are never simple and/or 2) the US may be... losing interest (???), as Trump has now stated that he currently has other priorities.

Yes, trade wars and stock price meltdowns will do that.

Yet the drone factor cannot be ignored, as Ukraine has upped its domestic production to a point that the odds of a true Russian breakthrough are now exceedingly low. There are simply too many highly dangerous eyes in the sky.  And while the Ukrainians are still giving up ground--sometimes in hundreds of meters, sometimes in centimeters, the front appears to have generally stagnated. There are various theories here including 1) the Russians have truly run out of skilled soldiers 2) the aforementioned drone factor--on the Ukrainian side--which means that Russian soldiers on the ground simply cannot move into the open 3) Ukrainian technology has dulled the accuracy of even glide bombs and finally 5) Russia may ultimately also be running out of artillery shells--and neither North Korea nor China wants to or has the continued ability to step up.

Which means that while Ukraine's back is continually against the wall, it is not quite as immediately critical as some in the Trump administration would like to think.

But it also means that war crimes, such as the missile attack in Sumy are all the more likely.

That said, below are two maps that--if you zoom in--do reveal the current line stagnation (although the Russians are taking advantage of spots of low resistance in Kupiansk, have made spot gains across the entire front over the past week, and it is also targeting new towns, such as Nove, north of Lyman). Yes, the later map does show progress by Russian forces, but this is farm more limited than expected (and thankfully, Yours Truly was wrong here), and it likely will remain so--barring another satellite or complete weapons cutoff by the US and Trump.

Which obviously is a risk. A very high risk.

Or more than that, as can be read here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/14/us-military-aid-ukraine-russia-war

But in the meantime, maps don't lie.

Map from Jan. 10, 2025

Map from April 16, 2025

But in fact, the primary thrust of today's post is not about Ukraine. Instead, allow me to go back to our roots--to discuss gangs and narcotics and what is also a remarkable (although also possibly troubling) string of busts in Poland over only the past two weeks.

Now keep in mind that we are going to (just this once) ignore Albanian busts, Europe-wide busts, more trouble in Belgium and Holland and even busts in other CEE states.

Again (for once), let's just look at Poland.

Over the past four weeks Polish Central Bureau of Investigation (CBSP) officers have put together an impressive string of raids and busts--which are indicative of the flow of narcotics not only to Poland, but to the region (if we still believe that Poland is not a priority destination country, which Yours Truly does not). And here I write "indicative," as intelligence, warrants, planning and actually making successful arrests that will result in successful prosecutions do not happen overnight. Which means there is a lot more out there that still somehow slips by. Maybe 50 percent more. Or 75 percent more. Or 90 percent.

Who knows? I am certain I don't know. In fact, I'm fairly certain nobody knows. But what we do know is that the following raids did take place (and the cocaine just keeps on coming):

• March 14—CBSP officers based our of Torun, together with Kwidzyn police and Swiecko border guards seized 11 kilograms of cocaine trafficked from Germany to Poland. The drugs were hidden in the sleeping compartment of a vehicle and were estimated to be worth PLN 5 mln. According to the CBSP, previously gathered intelligence led to the searching of a Renault Master and uncovered 10 hermetically sealed packages full of cocaine. The driver, Marcin K. is facing charges of smuggling large amounts of cocaine.
• March 20—CBSP officers and the Polish Border Guard, under the supervision of the National Prosecutor's Office, busted two organized crime groups involved in drug smuggling from Spain. More than100 officers took part in the operation, and the detainees were charged with, among other things, drug smuggling worth over PLN 53 million. Police suspect that members of both structures, associated with Silesian hooligans and Kraków sports clubs, organized illegal transports of marijuana from Spain to Poland. The smuggled drugs were then introduced into circulation in the country, primarily in Silesia, Malopolska and Pomerania. During raids officers detained 11 people and brought another two to the Prosecutor's Office from detention centers, where they are being held in connection with other proceedings pending against them. Some 13 residential premises, utility rooms and other facilities used by the suspects, including their vehicles, were searched. During the operations, more than 6 kilograms of marijuana, 3.5 kilograms of mephedrone and almost 6 kilograms of cocaine were discovered and secured. The suspects are accused of distributing in Poland some 2.5 tonnes of marijuana, 22 kilograms of amphetamines and 9 kilograms of cocaine into circulation, with a total value exceeding PLN 53 million. Meanwhile, more than PLN 1 mln in Polish and foreign currencies was seized. This investigation is still under way—and it may be only the tip of the iceberg.

• March 21, 2023—Lublin CBSP  noted they had detained 25 members of an organized crime gang, now charged with more than 100 offences, but chief among them includes smuggling psychotropic substances and narcotics from the Netherlands and Spain to Poland, with the gang specializing in distribution across Poland. Most recently five persons were arrested in Wielkopolska and Mazovia, and their properties were searched, which resulted in the seizure of monies, documentation and electronic equipment. This investigation has been ongoing for three years, with police believing that the gang operated primarily between 2018-2024, pumping some 200 kilograms of narcotics into circulation in western and central Poland.
• March 22, 2023—The CBSP announced that it had aided in the seizure on no less than 1.3 tonnes of cocaine in a joint investigation conducted by the French Customs Service, the Spanish National Police and Europol, with said cocaine planned to go to Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Great Britain. In short, two trucks from Poland were stopped and a Polish citizen was detained, and the seizure was valued at no less than PLN 300 million. The first stage of the operation took place in France, where the French services checked a truck with Polish license plates heading towards Lyon. Some 800 kilograms of cocaine was found hidden among aluminium materials inside. The Polish driver of the vehicle was detained. Subsequent operations were carried out in Spain near Barcelona. Thanks to information provided by CBSP Rzeszow officers, the  Spanish Policía Nacional seized a second truck with Polish plates, garnering some 500 kilograms of cocaine hidden among porcelain materials.
• March 23—Warsaw CBSP officers, acting under the supervision of the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, broke the back of yet another organized criminal group, detaining 13  and seizing cocaine, ecstasy tablets, methamphetamine and mephedrone. In addition, in the farm buildings of one of the detained persons, manufacturing/production equipment was seized, as well as PLN 200,000 in cash and firearms.
• March 31—CBSP police based out of Krakow, in cooperation with Czech law enforcement detained 16 and seized 12 kg of various types of drugs as part of a broader investigation into the smuggling of psychotropic substances to Europe.  The gang included citizens of Poland, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan and Macedonia. Six persons belonging to the gang were arrested I Poland, and police highlighted that more than 1,000 MDMA tablets were also secured, as well as cash in the amount of more than PLN 150,000.
• April 2, 2025 CBSP officer dismantled two organised criminal groups involved in the production of marijuana in Poland, with raids undertaken in Legnica, Lubin and Przemysl—with said busts leading to the arrest of nine people, and the seizure of cannabis bushes and dried marihuana worth some PLN 200,000. The Lodz and Podkarpacie divisions of the Polish Prosecutor’s Office are overseeing ongoing investigations and prosecutions, with four people currently detained. That said, at the same time Polish anti-terrorist squads were brought in to conduct a raid in Przemysl where police seized 133 non-fibrous cannabis bushes in various stages of growth and almost two kilograms of mephedrone. Cash in the amount of PLN 65,000 was also secured from the suspects. Five men aged 46 to 55 were detained, and the prosecutor in the Podkarpackie division of the PZ PK hit the men with charges of participating in an organised criminal group and producing drugs.
• April 11—Thirteen were arrested in the cracking of a gang that operated out of the Piaseczno suburb of Warsaw, with CBSP officers believing the gang may have trafficked up to 150 kilograms of narcotics between 2019-2023, with this allegedly including mephedrone, amphetamine, marijuana and cocaine. Of the 13, nine are still being held in temporary arrest, pending further investigation. Those held have also been hit with charges including racketeering, drug trafficking, inciting bodily harm and inciting destruction of property.

Whew. That is a great deal of narco-gang activity. Keep in mind that we have not included counterfeit cigarette busts, reported Georgian gang activity (hey, we did warn you), logistics hi-jacking, prostitution/houses of ill repute shut down or a now infamous case where corrupt officers allegedly informed a gang about coming raids--a TVN investigation that has been sharply denied by the CBSP.

Now should the above keep you awake at night? Well, maybe. Whether you are in Poland or in other countries in CEE, the rise of narcotics in schools is a worry. Then there is the increasing threat of violence--with gangland murders in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium setting a precedent that CEE is bound to follow. Finally, there is the spectre of fetanyl, which more than one journalist or investigator suspects is indeed making its way to Poland and the region even if it appears that some prosecutors do not want this known.

Or at least it seems this way.

Finally, there once again is the storage question. For years companies in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland have suddenly awoken to find that their facilities have been secretly commandeered and used as storage or even production sites for narcotics.

Yes, I know some of you white-collar types don't believe me, but... yes, it happened again. Allegedly.  For according to press reports this time a very typical crime (at least according to Yours Truly) took place in Gdansk with quite atypical results.

In short, the storage for the city's most used electric bike provider burned down. We'll leave the name of the company out of this for now--as it has already taken quite a reputation hit. As in the fire, which wiped out quite a bit of industrial space, was blamed on a faulty bike battery. Yet on April 17 police from Police Headquarters in Gdańsk and investigators from the District Prosecutor's Office confirmed that the Pzeróbka Hall fire began with an explosion at an illegal drug lab operating on its premises.

A lab that produced clefedrone.

Tree suspects have since been detained, these being Polish citizens aged 27, 38 and 46. Two of them were arrested in Gdansk and one in Ostroleka.

Here is a bit more if you can handle Polish.

https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/W-hali-na-Przerobce-bylo-laboratorium-narkotykow-To-w-nim-wybuchl-pozar-n201813.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR59GbTomUAFSEHnhmC5DikMfR5TeHa_6wqbNyeka72gkFhb_t3xnwnUR9PXiQ_aem_OivJtgUW6upIPrnKUHeWqQ

Otherwise, it's been a wild four weeks. But here's hoping that you have a safe and peaceful Easter weekend.

Keep your eyes open just the same.

Preston Smith is a licensed investigator based in Gdansk, Poland. He can be reached at query@cddi.pl.

Photo of trafficking suspect courtesy of the CBSP.

Maps are courtesy of DeepStateUA.

Photo credit: The White House/public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.