Sean McGovern, a top lieutenant of the Kinahan cartel, and Faissal Taghi — son of the infamous head of the Dutch-Moroccan Mocro Maffia — used to hang out and party in Dubai’s glitzy hotels and restaurants without a care in the world.

Until their arrests — and the smashing of a massive Russian-run money laundering operation based there this month — the Gulf emirate was a haven for some of Europe’s biggest drug traffickers.

For years major drug barons have brazenly run their operations out of the city’s skyscrapers and luxury villas without fear of extradition. Limited judicial cooperation from the local authorities meant they had little to fear, said European investigators and magistrates.