Sydney, June 1 (IANS/EFE): A group of Australian criminals created a powerful global cartel of cocaine and MDMA or ecstasy traffickers operating from bases in Montenegro, Holland, Spain and with links to Mexican and Colombian mafias, media reported.

An investigation carried out by media group News Corp and reported in its publications, including The Australian, on Monday revealed that this Balken-based mafia, led by some of the most wanted Australian criminals, smuggled drugs in through Australian ports.

"Balkan organised crime is now the biggest threat to Australia, so entrenched and disciplined and influential in local communities it has made it a serious challenge to crack," an Australian police officer said.

The daily said the problem could be traced back to the 1980s and 1990s when several criminal families migrated to Australia in an infiltration sponsored by former Serb president Slobodan Milosevic.

The officer added that Autralian authorities believe that many of the most wanted criminals who were thought to be retired from illegal activities, including 55-year-old ethnic Albanian Vaso Ulic, were currently leading drug cartels from their bases in Montenegro, Serbia and Spain.

Ulic's mafia traffics some six tonnes of drugs to Australia annually and also to South Africa, Europe, China and the American continent.

Australian authorities suspect that the Balkan-Australian mafia operating in the country together with some motorcycle bands has links to Mexican, Colombian and Asian mafias in addition to those in South Africa, Italy and Holland, the officer explained.