The drug mules were from Africa and the Dominican Republic and had ingested “body packs,” full of cocaine for delivery to Switzerland, police said.
Officials first nabbed two 30 and 38-year-old Dominican suspects on the express train from Amsterdam to Zurich who together had 125 pellets of cocaine weighing 1,500 grammes. Other operations found three suspects from Nigeria, aged 23 to 33-years-old, who had a total of 323 packets of cocaine in their bodies.
Another five Nigerians between 24 and 46-years-old were caught by customs officials on the international train route between Freiburg and Basel, Switzerland. These smugglers had 536 packets of cocaine between them that added up to six kilogrammes.
Police also confiscated their payment for the crime - €3,000.
West African drug organisations play a key role in international drug smuggling operations, police said. They often work out of the Netherlands and have installed a trade and dealer network throughout Europe.