Brussels, 29/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - Three months after it was officially set in place, the EU Standing Committee on Internal Security (COSI) successfully conducted its first large-scale police operation carrying out more than 8,000 arrests. The director general of the Spanish police and the civil guard and the current president of the EU Internal Security Committee (ISC), Francisco Javier Velázquez, said on Friday 25 June that “Operation Global Europe” had made it possible to successfully put European collaboration to the test in the fight against crime. The operation, conducted from 7 to 10 June this year with the participation of the police forces of 15 countries, led, in addition to the detention of over 8,000 people, to the confiscation of 468 weapons. “For the first time, we have put together all our communication channels and we have shared information in real time”, said Velázquez, congratulating the police who took part in the operation. In total, 256,700 security force agents took part in the operation from Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. For four days, simultaneously in the 15 countries taking part, the agents carried out around 1,227,700 police checks and verified more than 2 million passports and identity documents. More than 10,526 exchanges of information took place, moreover, between the police of different Community countries, as well as 500 cross-border contacts resulting in the arrest of criminals related to the trafficking of drugs, people or vehicles. COSI presidency will be held by Belgium as of 1 July. It will coordinate the work of four police and judicial cooperation agencies that exist in the EU, namely: Frontex, Europol, Eurojust and Cepol.