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ISSUE NO. 1744
6 - 12 December
By Joe Gerrard GUARDIA CIVIL and police customs officers have arrested a man in Fuengirola in connection with a joint Spanish and Belgian operation targeting drugs smuggling from South America. The man detained in Fuengirola was subject to a European Arrest Warrant. Police alleged he was one of the leading members of a Belgium-based gang who operated in Spain, France, the Netherlands, Colombia and Ecuador. A total of seven suspects were arrested in Fuengirola and Sabinallas. A further 12 were arrested in Belgium, police said in a statement. Officers launched their investigation after finding almost 800 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside wood shipments that had arrived in Algeciras from Ecuador. Belgian police also found around 470 kilograms of the drug hidden amongst wood inside containers that arrived in Antwerp about a month before the Algeciras find. Investigators claimed the
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Drug gang bust
SEIZED: Police found the drugs hidden in wood shipments (inset).
Spanish cargo was set to be taken to a warehouse in Sabinillas where gang members would remove it from the wood before it was moved elsewhere. The operation, dubbed Fraternity by Spanish police, was co-ordinated by the European Union’s (EU) Judicial Co-operation Unit (EUROJUST). It saw Spanish and Belgian police officials meet at the agency’s headquarters in The Hague, in the Netherlands, which were also attended by officers conducting investigations in the countries. The probe was overseen in Spain by the Third Examining Court of Algeciras. Police said the operation came as part of ongoing efforts to tackle drug smuggling in the Campo de Gibraltar area and the southern coast of Spain. The investigation remains open.
Road deaths TWO people were killed on Tuesday after driving the wrong way down a motorway and crashing head on into a lorry in the Archidona area. Emergency services said they were alerted to the crash at around 4.15pm. Traffic officials said the car turned onto the A92-M motorway at kilometre one and travelled around three kilometres the wrong way. The car reached kilometre four when it hit an oncoming lorry. Guardia Civil officers, firefighters and medical personnel were all despatched to the scene of the crash after several witnesses alerted emergency services to the accident. Firefighters had to cut the passengers of the car free, but were found to have been killed, according to Malaga’s Traffic Management Centre. Emergency services closed the motorway to clear the road of debris. Queues around two kilometres long formed before the roads were reopened.