Police in Nice, southern France, announced that they have dismantled a network of drug traffickers who used cruise ships towards Brazil. Traffickers recruit "mules" who earned 5000 euros to leave the port of Savona in Italy for a two-week cruise to South America and entered the ship as a tourists.

During stop in Morocco, "Mules" boarded marijuana produced in the country in disguise and luggage. Upon arriving in Brazil, the drug was exchanged for cocaine, sent by other "mules" to the European market, mainly France and Italy.

The drug trafficking was discovered two weeks ago by a joint operation of the Spanish and French police during a stopover on a cruise in Tenerife, Canary Islands. "10 mules" were arrested and seized 25kg of cocaine valued at € 2 million.

After the operation, six people were arrested in the region of Nice, including the leaders of the network and a family of French-Moroccan already convicted in 2008 of trafficking in marijuana. Three other suspects were detained for questioning. Among them, a contact of the powerful Calabrian mafia N'Drangheta. The dismantled network is suspected of having smuggled hundreds of pounds of marijuana and cocaine.