VIENNA.- The Austrian authorities have busted a drug trafficking ring which in the last three years smuggled 270 kilos of cocaine worth 60 million euros, said to Efe Erwin Meindlhumer, of the Criminal Investigation Office.

He said the drug from South America arrived in Dominican Republic and from there by air to Amsterdam, for distribution to Austria, Spain, France and Italy. T

The investigation into the Austrian plot began in 2007, when the Police of the city  Linz found cocaine distributed by Dominicans, one of which turned out to be a 42 year old Austrian of Dominican origin said to be the ringleader.

As the result of the investigation 77 people have been identified, of which 43 have been detained in Austria and 24 in other European countries.

Meindlhumer added that 10 more suspects are still at large in the operation dubbed "The Teachers," in reference to the three Dominican ringleaders who headed the distribution from Holland. One of them has already been arrested and the other two are still on the loose.

“We had to scratch not into the lower distribution level, but relatively far up the structure,” said Dietmar Gutmayer, of the Linz Office of the Prosecutor.