Copy European drug smuggler importing a source of this (7)
I believe the answer is:
emulate
'copy' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'european drug smuggler importing a source of this' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'drug smuggler' becomes 'mule' (I've seen this before).
'importing' is an insertion indicator.
'source of' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'this' is 't'.
'a'+'t'='at'
'mule' placed around 'at' is 'mulate'.
'e'+'mulate'='EMULATE'
(Other definitions for emulate that I've seen before include "Imitate - rival" , "Follow suit" , "Ape" , "Try to do as well as another" , "Contend with" .)