Drug trafficking ring dismantled by Belgian, Dutch and UK authorities

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -A European drug trafficking ring has been dismantled in a joint operation by Belgian, Dutch and British authorities, with seven people arrested and 5 million euros ($5.80 million) seized, the pan-European Europol police body said on Thursday.

The traffickers mainly dealt in ketamine, along with other products such as cocaine and heroin, and hid drugs in mail packages among other methods, it said.

Nine houses in Belgium, along with two other houses in Britain and the Netherlands, were searched during Tuesday's sting.

"The perpetrators operated not only within Western Europe, but were spread across multiple regions around the world. They used a variety of sophisticated methods to traffic drugs through Europe without detection, including trucks with drugs hidden in deck cargo and mail packages, which were intercepted in Belgium," the Europol statement said.

The U.N. said last month the global cocaine trade was at record levels.

($1 = 0.8623 euros)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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