SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Aug. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Agents of the National Police have dismantled a criminal organization, based on the Costa del Sol and Tenerife, dedicated to the international transport of drugs by road. The operation, coordinated by Europol and carried out together with agents from the Netherlands, has resulted in the arrest of the 23 members of the organization in Malaga, Granada, Murcia, Norway, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Ten house searches have also been carried out in Malaga, Tenerife and the Netherlands in which 440,000 euros, 323 kilos of marijuana, 71 kilos of hashish, 300 grams of cocaine, 2 kilos of MMDA, four firearms, a weapon simulated and another of compressed air, 19 vehicles and various computer equipment.
To transport narcotic substances and weapons, members of the organization used vehicles in which they hid the material among different types of merchandise, covering the drug with material such as polyurethane to make it difficult to discover. They also used international logistics companies with which they shipped pallets with various types of merchandise and among which they hid the drugs.
The investigation began in October 2021, within the framework of EMPACT, when the organization was making the necessary preparations to carry out the transport of a large quantity of cocaine through the use of maritime containers. Until now they carried out transport of hashish and marijuana from Spain to northern European countries. As a result of this investigation, it was possible to intercept six of the drug transports that the detainees would have tried to consume.
In April 2022, it was possible to detect the transport of 35 kilograms of hashish in Norway in a heated vehicle from Malaga. In May of that same year, a truck with 128 kilos of marijuana and 36 kilos of hashish was intercepted in Granada bound for Germany. Already in 2023 three of the transports that the organization intended to carry out were intercepted, being able to intervene 45 kilos of marijuana in Murcia, 33 and 54 kilos of marijuana in Ireland camouflaged on pallets among merchandise and 63 kilos of marijuana in Granada also transported on pallets.
Finally it became known that the organization would be transporting a large quantity of drugs in the Dutch city of Norrd-Sharwoude. The investigators activated the international cooperation mechanisms and, once the Dutch authorities were alerted, three members of the organization were arrested and seized large amounts of drugs and four firearms.
INVESTMENT OF 200,000 EUROS IN AN ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATIONS SERVER
Thanks to the previous investigation, it was possible to carry out the total dismantling of the investigated criminal organization, based on the Costa del Sol and Tenerife, resulting in the arrest of twelve of its members. The final result of the operation has been the arrest of 23 people. All those arrested entered pretrial detention after being brought before the courts.
During the investigation, the agents were able to verify the level of sophistication of the criminal organization, upon detecting that they had made an investment of 200,000 euros installing an encrypted communications server, in this way they intended to avoid detecting the communication of the members of the criminal structure. This network was supervised by a member of the network with a degree in engineering. In addition, more than 80 encrypted phones and 150 phone cards were seized in the records.
The investigation was carried out by agents of the Spanish National Police and the Dutch police within the framework of EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats). Through this framework, European Union Member States, agencies and other EU partners work closely together to tackle major criminal threats through joint operational actions designed to disrupt criminal networks, their structures and business models. .
The research carried out in this framework has been co-financed by the European Union within the support given to Member States to combat crime in fields such as cannabis, heroin and cocaine trafficking, among other matters.
