Europol announced on Friday the arrest of 382 people in late October in a large-scale international operation that mobilized police from 28 countries against human traffickers who operated mainly in the Balkans and Southeast Europe, AFP reported.

159 arrests were related to migrant smuggling, 112 to drug trafficking, 38 to firearms trafficking and two to human trafficking, the European police office, which coordinated the operation with Spain, said.

Almost 2,500 illegal entries into the EU were detected and 106 firearms were seized, Europol added in a statement.

On the Balkan route, an important logistics hub, thousands of trucks enter the EU with various goods, including food and construction materials.

According to Europol, the region is widely used for smuggling and trafficking people, firearms and drugs into the EU.

The traffickers “supply weapons mainly from Western Balkan countries, where human resources specializing in firearms are widely available,” it added.

Weapons, like drugs, are often smuggled in these consignments and hidden in vehicles, and transported to the EU, including Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

“Drug trafficking and illegal arms trafficking are closely related, especially in connection with cocaine trafficking networks,” explained Europol.

Criminal networks can trade guns for drugs and use them to gain and maintain control of a “lucrative” market.

As part of a large-scale operation from October 26 to 29, law enforcement agencies checked tens of thousands of cars and people. Almost 1,000 premises were searched and more than 2,000 parcels were checked.

304 kg of heroin, 147 kg of cannabis, 5,402 marijuana plants and 1.3 kg of cocaine were seized.

Other European countries have provided information and taken measures at the national level. In total, about 16,000 officers were involved in field operations.