After they intercepted encrypted messages exchanged between members of organized crime groups, Belgian authorities seized in the port of Antwerp 27.64 tons of cocaine worth some 1.38 billion euros (about US$1.64 billion) just over the past two months, the Belgian Prosecution Office said on Tuesday Belgian and Dutch investigators accessed the messages after cracking the encrypted communication platform Sky ECC in March last year. 

Dutch police are searching for the killer of a lawyer who was representing a key witness in a major organized crime case and whose murder has rasied concerns that The Netherlands was becoming a “narco-state.”

A Dutch investment fund acquired a popular gambling brand despite its long-standing ties to Italy’s criminal underworld.

The US subsidiary of Rabobank pleaded guilty to obstructing an investigation into money laundering by Mexican drug cartels and has agreed to pay a US$369 million fine, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.