Anthony Piovesan
Police have taken down a major criminal organisation in Spain, and one part of the operation left officers shocked.
Police have seized 296 kilograms of marijuana hidden among bags of lettuce as part of a major criminal operation in the south of the country.
The discovery was part of a nine-phase operation which saw the National Police last week finally take down a criminal group that smuggled drugs from Morocco to Cadiz on (narco lanchas) high-powered boats.
Based in Malaga and Cadiz, the group would rent industrial warehouses to hide the high-speed vessels, with the drugs inside them.
They would then transport the drugs by truck to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
National Police intercepted one of these refrigerated trucks in Corbera in the Valencian community where they found 296kg of marijuana buds hidden among vacuum-packed bags of lettuce.
The driver and his passenger were arrested.
A latter stage of the ‘Viñas macro-operation’ was carried out in Murcia on another truck and led to officers discovering 80kg of hashish stashed inside the double bottoms of the doors – Eight people were arrested.
Police said the group had a “wide network of collaborators” across Andalucia, Extremadura, Murcia and Valencia.
The investigation started mid last year and resulted in 21 people being arrested for their alleged drug trafficking, money laundering, smuggling and belonging to a criminal organisation.
They will also be charged with the alleged possession of machinery used to smuggle drugs.
In the operation, police seized eight boats, half a dozen outboard motors, four trailers, three truck heads, a crane to move pneumatic boats, 4,200 liters of fuel and 16,000 euros.
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