Alex Trelinski
A drug smuggling gang used high-speed boats to ship narcotics from North Africa to Spanish beaches and marinas before resorting to money laundering to hide their ill-gotten gains.
26 people have been arrested by the Guardia Civil in the Alicante, Almeria and Murcia areas.
Half a tonne of hashish and several firearms were seized during the 12-month probe.
Guardia investigations started a year ago into a motorboat bringing in drugs to the Costa Blanca.
Two workers at a Guardamar marina were part of the gang who ensured the safe arrival and onward despatch of shipments.
As the stash was being unloaded, the workers spotted Guardia officers watching them.
They fled the scene in a speeding car that smashed through the marina fence and damaged several parked cars.
Days later, in June 2021, officers intercepted a landing a few kilometres away at La Marina’s El Pinet beach with a series of trucks and trailers waiting on the beach to receive the illegal cargo.
Two Guardia beach raids happened further south in Almeria at Mojacar and San Juan de los Terreros with 47 bales of hashish recovered.
The operation to bust the gang ended last month with the freezing of 236 bank accounts
The crooks acquired solvent companies which they used as a front for their activities.
Money was transferred to tax havens with payments made to millionaires, known-criminals, and family members.
The cash was laundered through charitable foundations in South America making it difficult to work out the trail of money.
Authorities have not specified how much the gang made from their illegal activites.
READ MORE:
- VIDEO: Police bust gang who smuggled drugs into Spain on speedboats
- BIG HASH STASH of under 4,000 kilos on a speedy ‘narcoboat’ is intercepted at a Costa Blanca beach in…
- SHOCKING BLUE as Europe’s first ‘narco-sub’ is discovered at San Roque warehouse in Spain’s Andalucia region
