🇧🇷🇪🇺🟥 — The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) now classifies the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), the largest criminal organization in the continent, as a "cartel."

The term was used by Europol in a report from May 2023, which dealt with an operation against drug trafficking in Spain and Portugal. The operation was carried out in cooperation with the national police forces of both countries and the Brazilian Federal Police.

"An international police operation supported by Europol has led to the dismantling of a Brazilian cartel that was flooding Europe," a statement from Europol reads.

Europol explains that the reason for labeling the PCC as a cartel is due to the group's concentration on the tasks of drug sales and transportation to other countries. In 2021, the United States government included the PCC in the list of threats to national security, alongside the Chinese triad, the Italian mafia, and the Japanese Yakuza.