On April 30, the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) arrested 20 suspects after dismantling a cocaine laboratory able to producing 100 kilograms of the drug each month. A few of these arrested have been thought of by regulation enforcement as Excessive Worth Targets for his or her involvement in a number of drug trafficking instances.
Civil Guard officers, working along with Europol and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), seized 21 drums of liquid and stable chemical compounds used to extract and course of cocaine after discovering the laboratory close to Madrid.
The operation, which included searches of 27 properties within the provinces of Pontevedra, A Coruña and Madrid, additionally led to the seizure of three million euros in money. An extra 10 million euros in worth have been seized, akin to luxurious properties, autos and leisure vessels.
The arrested people, of which 19 are Spanish nationals and one is from Colombia, are suspected of getting imported tons of cocaine and coca leaves from South America to Spain with leisure vessels. They’re believed to have chartered sailboats and catamarans from Galicia to South America to move their illicit cargo to Europe. To hold out this exercise, they recruited younger males with maritime expertise and no legal document.
The cocaine could be smuggled into numerous entry factors on the coast of Galicia, earlier than being smuggled inland and into different EU Member States utilizing autos outfitted with subtle hidden compartments.
To maximise its earnings, the Galicia-based legal group additionally allegedly ran a cocaine laboratory, arrange in an remoted space on the outskirts of Madrid. There, they extracted cocaine from coca leaves.
Throughout the day of the operation, the authorities seized giant portions of medicine, together with:
- 50 kg of cocaine,
- 1 kg of heroin,
- 1.7 kg of cannabis,
- 1 kg of books,
- 10 kg of marijuana,
- 750 g of MDMA,
- 10,000 ecstasy capsules,
- 700 grams of amphetamine.
Within the framework of ongoing intelligence actions with its operational counterparts, Europol has developed dependable intelligence concerning the worldwide drug trafficking actions of this Spanish legal group. Since then, Europol has offered steady intelligence improvement and evaluation to assist area investigators. Throughout the day of the motion, a Europol specialist was despatched to Spain to assist with the fast evaluation of the brand new knowledge as they have been collected through the motion.
This case confirms a brand new pattern in cocaine trafficking, the place the unprocessed drug is exported to be chemically processed in clandestine laboratories within the vacation spot international locations. This permits legal organizations to cut back their losses within the occasion of potential police seizures.