John Culatto
POLICE have arrested 82 people alleged to be part of one of the biggest drug trafficking gangs in Spain’s Ceuta.
Policia Nacional agents arrested the gang members as part of Operation Lead which started a year ago in the Spanish border town with Morocco.
They crowned the operation when a SWAT team arrested the Ceuta gang leader Piolin in the Andalucian city of Manilva on 21 April.
The leader of his rival gang in Ceuta, Tayena, was shot dead on April 12.
After the arrest of Piolin, Policia Nacional officers raided several addresses to disband the rest of his gang and detain its members.
In the process, the agents managed to solve two murders and six kidnappings, freeing people who had been kept in captivity while the criminals awaited a ransom.
Police also seized 14 firearms like sub-machine guns, shotguns, pistols and revolvers along with ammunition.
Agents also found drones that the gang used for surveillance during their operations.
Prosecutors said Piolin led a ‘criminal network allegedly involved in crimes such as kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and illegal immigration’.
A Ceuta court ordered Piolin be held on remand until his trial along with 38 other suspects.
The successful year-long operation, started when a young man was shot dead, has effectively ended the criminal stranglehold of the two main gangs in Ceuta.
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