Addressing a news conference in Zagreb on Tuesday, Croatian police officials said that seven Croatian nationals were arrested in the operation, dubbed Operation Catalonia, and that three girls from Croatia, victims of trafficking, were found.

The girls are now safe and under protection, but the police believe that more girls from Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine have been forced to prostitution, mostly in the Spanish summer resort of Lloret de Mar.

Three people connected with the smuggling ring were arrested in Spain. The Croatian police discovered a police officer from Cakovec and a clerk from the northern Medjimurje County police department who had revealed official information from the Interior Ministry's computer system to one of the suspected people smugglers. Croatian police officials say the information in question was not connected with Operation Catalonia. The two ministry employees have been suspended.

The Spanish police launched the operation in early 2011, and their Croatian colleagues collected the first information about the people trafficking ring in July 2011, after which the operation was joined by Interpol and Europol. Also cooperating in it were Slovenian and Hungarian police.

Half a kilogram of cocaine, smuggled from Barcelona to the northern Croatian region of Medjimurje, was seized in the operation.

Along with Croatian nationals, the smuggling group also included nationals of Ukraine and Serbia, but it was not connected with a Serbian gang called the Zemun Clan, it was said at the news conference.

The Spanish authorities arrested a large group of suspects in the operation and found a number of trafficking victims at the end of 2011. In late January this year, they issued warrants for the arrest of three Croatian nationals.

The Spanish police liaison officer in Croatia, Gonzalo Jesus Navarro, said Operation Catalonia was a clear example of efficient police cooperation.