Over 70% of Europe's most dangerous criminal networks use corruption to influence authorities and port personnel.

Omissions

• The claimed figures correspond to Europol's April 2024 flagship report 'Decoding the EU's most threatening criminal networks' (821 networks), which is the most recent comprehensive assessment of these networks' characteristics available before the session date of 2026-07-08.
• Europol's 2025 follow-up report ('The blueprint of criminal opportunism – Issue 2') focuses on the evolution and disruption of the networks identified in 2024 (76% of them disrupted) and does not publish a revised share of networks using corruption.
• Europol's original wording is 'around 70%' (approximately 70%), so the claim's 'over 70%' is a slight upward rounding of the published figure.
• The exact '70% corruption' statistic could not be quoted verbatim from the search snippets retrieved; it corresponds to the headline statistics of Europol's 2024 report, which remains the most recent data source on this metric as of the session date.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropol – Decoding the EU's most threatening criminal networks (report PDF)Europol's first report on the most threatening criminal networks active in the EU; it distils a wealth of data on these networks (the source of the headline statistics on drug trafficking, violence and corruption cited in the claim).
• PrimaryEuropol newsroom – Criminal opportunism: how the EU's most threatening criminal networks exploit societyEuropol report reveals how 76% of the networks identified in 2024 have since been disrupted, but new threats emerge and old ones persist.
• PrimaryEuropol – The blueprint of criminal opportunism – Issue 2 (2025 report page)This report showcases a snapshot of the criminal networks within the EU, highlighting the increasing prominence of cybercrime, the criminal use of digital tools, and the evolution of the networks first assessed in 2024.