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Europol: More than 1,000 arrested in crackdown

Europol director Rob Wainwright (L) and and Italian national police chief Alessandro Pansa give a press conference on September 24, 2014 at Europol headquarters in The Hague. AFP PHOTO / ANP / MARTIJN BEEKMAN

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – A European police official says law enforcement agencies across the continent have arrested more than 1,000 people in a nine-day sweep the group’s chief calls the “single largest assault on organized crime we’ve seen in Europe.”

Europol Director Rob Wainwright told reporters Wednesday that Operation Archimedes targeted almost all kinds of crime ranging from drug trafficking to illegal immigration, tax fraud, counterfeiting and theft.

Wainwright says the operation led to 1,027 arrests and saved 30 Romanian children from being trafficked. It also netted large amounts of drugs including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and heroin.

Wainwright says the operation “has led I think to a very significant attack on the whole criminal infrastructure in Europe.”

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