Simon Wade
AN INTERNATIONAL gang of drug traffickers were busted in a large-scale dawn raid in the Canary Islands.
Holiday caravans were used to transport cocaine around the islands, by a gang of 11 Spaniards and a Colombian.
One caravan alone had 60kg (over 9 stones in weight) of the drug stashed in its interior.
All 12 were arrested as the Guardia Civil swooped on their premises in Tenerife, after a two year joint operation with Europol, Colombian police and US Drugs Enforcement Authority.
Assets worth an estimated €2m have been seized so far.
The traffickers owned vehicle dealerships, repair shops and ran long-term caravan parks, using them as ‘legitimate’ cover to launder the money.
Investigations on the African mainland uncovered a route from South America into the Spanish islands via Ghana.
Europol say that Africa has a ‘growing role as a trafficking and transit area’, a new trend identified in the 2019 EU Drug Markets Report.
