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Spanish police seize over two tonnes of cocaine in major bust

Spanish police said Friday they had seized over two tonnes of cocaine and arrested nine people suspected of smuggling large quantities of the drug from Colombia.

Published: 22 December 2023 17:29 CET
Spanish police seize over two tonnes of cocaine in major bust
Policemen stand guard next to a part of seized drug packs. Photo: MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP.

The nine — all Spanish nationals — are suspected of being members of the “Piturros” gang, a criminal group linked to drug trafficking in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region since the 1980s, a police statement said.

The cocaine was seized from a ship off the Portuguese coast and from several buildings in Galicia in an operation coordinated by EU police force Europol and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the statement added.

Spanish police said the gang members were believed to be “in close contact with the main Colombian cocaine distributors”.

READ ALSO: Why is Spain Europe’s cocaine gateway?

Europol said the seized cocaine was “destined for a notorious criminal gang originating from the Western Balkans region.”

Galicia’s rugged Atlantic coast with hundreds of hidden coves, inlets and desolate beaches has for years been a key European gateway for illegal drugs.

Earlier this month, police said they had seized 7.5 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Vigo in Galicia concealed in a shipment of frozen tuna which had been imported by Albanian cartels.

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CRIME

Spain seizes 1.8 tonnes of Sinaloa Cartel’s crystal meth

Spanish police said Thursday they had seized 1,800 kilos of crystal meth that Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel was trying to sell in Europe, the country's "biggest-ever seizure" of the narcotic.

Published: 16 May 2024 17:07 CEST
Spain seizes 1.8 tonnes of Sinaloa Cartel's crystal meth

Police arrested five people during the raid in the eastern Alicante province, one of them a Mexican running the cartel’s Spanish operation, a statement said.

“This is the biggest-ever seizure of crystal meth in Spain and the second largest in Europe,” Antonio Martinez Duarte, head of the police’s drug trafficking and organised crime unit, told reporters.

“Among those arrested is a Mexican citizen linked to the Sinaloa Cartel,” he added.

READ ALSO: What are the penalties for drug possession in Spain?

He did not give his name but indicated the suspect was responsible for receiving the narcotics in Spain then distributing them within Europe.

The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico’s oldest, largest and most violent criminal groups whose influence remains strong despite the arrest of its founder Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and his son.

Both have been extradited to and jailed in the United States.

During the operation, police also detained three Spaniards and a Romanian, seizing five cars, documents, a weapon and cash.

But police believe it was a one-off trafficking operation and that “Mexican organisations are not permanently based” in Spain, Martinez Duarte said.

“These organisations send a trusted person who carries out the operation in line with their interests” and once that is over, he goes back home, he explained.

The seized narcotics had been due to be shipped to central Europe.

Although Spain is one of the main drug gateways to Europe, seizures of synthetic narcotics are uncommon as most traffickers usually deal in cannabis and cocaine.

READ ALSO: Why is Spain’s Europe’s cocaine gateway?

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