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CostaBlancaPeople 21st - 27th November 2017
Anti-drug operation nets four tonnes of cocaine
B
RITONS were among those arrested after 13 million euros in cash, 18 cars and 3.7 tonnes of coke were seized in huge anti-drug operation across Spain. The Guardia Civil arrested 40 suspects in an anti-drug and money laundering operation covering Girona, Pontevedra, Madrid, Melilla, Malaga and Morocco. Footage released shows cops raiding properties and uncovering 18 cars and 1.3 tonnes of cocaine resulting in Spanish and Moroccan police netting close to four tonnes of cocaine with a street value of over 100 million euros in a long-term antitrafficking operation, Spain's interior ministry said last Friday. Morocco's DGST domestic intelligence service meanwhile said it had seized 2.6 tonnes of cocaine in the joint operation, which had input from US, Italian and German law enforcement agencies. Madrid said the operation had
"dismantled a major criminal organisation based in Spain and Morocco, directed from Venezuela by a wanted Spanish national". In all, 34 men and six women of Spanish, British and Moroccan nationalities were arrested as part of the operation. One Spanish national was detained in Germany "while trying to flee to Venezuela", the ministry said. It added that the amount of cocaine seized could have been sold in Spain for “more than 103 million euros”. A motorhome and three boats used for the transfer of the drugs were also seized. The gang was able to move money by using people with limited financial resources and making them hide money among their belongings while travelling. The investigation managed to intercept more than €4 million euros on flights departing from Malaga or Melilla to Venezuela, but how much they really got through is likely far higher. Spain is a main entry point for cocaine
in Europe, and the busts are some of the biggest in recent years. In May, Spanish authorities said they had intercepted a boat carrying 2.4 tonnes of cocaine in the Atlantic. And three tonnes of the drug were seized in December 2015 in the northern region of Galicia and Spain's Mediterranean Costa del Sol.
TORREVIEJA Meanwhile, in Torrevieja, Guardia Civil made their sixth significant drugs bust of the year. The gang involved were responsible for distributing heroin and cocaine throughout Torrevieja and surrounding areas. Six arrests were made. Sources say the gang had a complex hierarchy structure and changed location of their ‘HQ’ regularly to avoid detection by police. During the recent raid, dozens of ‘street ready’ doses of heroin and cocaine were seized. The initial investigation began some
months back when Guardia Civil in Torrevieja learned of one of the addresses being used to distribute by the gang. Following surveillance, officers were able to confirm that heroin and cocaine were being sold from the house in Torrevieja. Towards the end of the investigation, the gang abandoned the house and moved their drugs business to an address in the centre of Torrevieja town in order to hinder police efforts. Officers tracked down the new address and confirmed the gang members were still active and the hierarchy of roles still intact within the organisation. A raid was sanctioned and officers made six arrests, seized €1600 worth of cocaine and heroin, €1300 in cash and numerous items used in the cutting and distribution of narcotics. All of those arrested were Spanish – three men aged, 45, 32 and 38, one woman aged 39 and two women aged 29. The six were brought before the judge who ordered provisional
detention of all suspects due to the large number of prior convictions for a variety of crimes including violence and kidnapping. This was the sixth significant drugs bust in Torrevieja so far this year with a total of 23 people arrested across a series of different operations. 15 of those arrested are now in prison.
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