A crime gang described as "one of Europe's most prolific" has been dismantled.

A coordinated operation involved more than 450 officers from five countries.

The group was dismantled last week after an investigation, established at Europol, was carried out between the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, British Revenue and Customs, the Polish Police Central Bureau of Investigation, the Estonian Central Criminal Police and the Spanish Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional.

The operation, code-named 'Icebreaker', was the biggest of its kind to date in Europe against such an organised crime group.

It was made up of citizens of Lithuania and other EU countries, involved in large-scale drug and cigarette trafficking, assassinations and money laundering.

Police and customs officers - including special interventions units - carried out coordinated raids in the early hours of May 15th and 16th.

As a result, the suspected ringleader - a 48-year-old Lithuanian national - was arrested in Spain.

A further 21 suspects were detained in Poland, Lithuania, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Some 40 house searches took place, resulting in the seizure of €8m in cash, diamonds, gold bars, jewellery and luxury vehicles - as well as the discovery of hidden compartments used to smuggle drugs and psychotropic substances.

Europol said "a substantial quantity" of illicit cigarettes were also seized.

It is believed these criminals acquired an estimated €680m as a result of their criminal activities for the period 2017-2019 alone.

This group would traffic drugs and cigarettes into the UK, before smuggling the illegally obtained cash to Poland by different means.

The money was then laundered via currency exchange offices and subsequently invested in real estate in Spain and other countries.