The Civil Guard, in the framework of an operation coordinated by EUROPOL and EUROJUST and in which the US DEA, the German Customs Investigation Office (ZKA), the German Police, the Italian Carabinieri and the Moroccan DGST have collaborated, has proceeded to the detention of 40 people (34 men and 6 women of Spanish, British, Moroccan nationalities), belonging to an international organization dedicated to the trafficking of cocaine and money laundering. The arrests were made in the towns of Girona, Pontevedra, Madrid, Melilla and Morocco.
It all started at 2016, when there was knowledge of the existence of a group of people who would be engaged in drug trafficking using recreational craft such as "sailboat", from Dénia. As a result of this information, the agents intercepted one of these boats from Venezuela and had as destination the Port of Cádiz, which carried 400 kilograms of hidden cocaine.
From this intervention and the study of the intervened documentation, the existence of an international drug trafficking organization that was periodically introducing cocaine using new procedures was exposed.
Later, it was found that the network had several collaborators in the Basque Country, and that the heads of the organization moved from South America to Spain to perform specific functions, among which was the collection of the benefits of the sale of the drug for his physical transfer to Venezuela.
Likewise, it was determined that the organization had created two independent criminal structures in Spain, the first one based in the Basque Country (responsible for introducing and distributing the cocaine shipments sent by sea), and the second, based in Melilla (responsible for to launder money).
Thanks to the collaboration with the Office of the DEA in Madrid, it was known that one of the group's main collaborators had moved from Venezuela to Spain to direct, in collaboration with the Melilla group, the collections of the money.
From the information provided, this person could be located in the town of Rivas Vaciamadrid, so the Civil Guard established a device for its location, discovering that this person was in charge of collecting money from the Melilla group, and that for achieve their objectives without raising suspicions had created a business network dedicated to the purchase sale of wooden furniture in Spain, shipping the goods to Venezuela by sea in containers.
Euro 200 and 500 tickets in double funds
This system allowed him to hide the money, usually in 200 and 500 euros bills in double funds of the same. In an intervention intercepted more than eight million euros in cash in the port of Valencia.
Other ways to transfer money, was using people with limited financial resources. These people hid the money among their belongings. It has managed to intercept more than four million euros on flights that depart from Malaga or Melilla bound for Venezuela.
Also, the head of the group based in Melilla, was a Spanish citizen who ran the operations from the city of Frankfurt (Germany), where under the coverage of the purchase-sale of vehicles, whitewashed drug money for the main Venezuelan organization.
The arrest of this person in Germany was made thanks to the close collaboration of the Moroccan DGST, when this person intended to flee to Venezuela to hide behind the arrests made in Morocco where the international network of cocaine trafficking was dismantled.
During the development of the operation, agents also intervened in Pontevedra 870 kilograms of cocaine that were hidden in a house, and that were intended to be distributed to the United Kingdom through the provinces of Alicante and Girona. This subgroup of the network used to transport the drug a caravan and shuttle vehicles to avoid detection.
Habitáculos underground to hide cocaine
On the other hand, in the town of Lloret de Mar (Girona), a hidden space was located underground, where 120 kilograms of cocaine had been hidden. This drug match was going to be taken to Alicante to be distributed hidden in trucks to the United Kingdom.
Thanks to the arrest of the ringleader in Germany, 15 was later detained by more people who made up the organization and numerous home searches were made in different locations in the peninsula and Melilla.
Europol has supported research since May of 2016 by providing analytical support, as well as deploying a mobile office during the final phase of the arrests in Melilla. The mobile team facilitated the exchange of information in real time, the analysis of the information obtained and the identification of transnational links with other criminal organizations.
The intervened effects exceed the 14 million euros, having been required by the ORGA (Office Recovery and Asset Management) of the Ministry of Justice the collaboration in the location and management of property owned by the investigated.
The operation has been carried out by agents of the Civil Guard, assigned to the Central Operative Unit (ECO Alicante) and the Comandancias de Melilla and Madrid, under the direction of the holder of the Court of Instruction number three of those of Alicante.
