Alex Trelinski
13 PEOPLE have been arrested in Spain as part of a major international operation targeting Ireland’s ‘The Family’ drug gang.
‘The Family’ is regarded as Ireland’s largest organised criminal organisation with police acting in simultaneous raids coordinated by Europol.
The gang leader- one of three brothers detained- continues to be questioned in Ireland after police made five arrests there on Monday.
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The Guardia Civil said that 20 members of the crew have been arrested in Spain over the last year.
The latest detainees came from Alicante, Castellon, Murcia, Malaga, and Orihuela and were a mix of Spanish, Columbian, and Irish nationals.
Six people are currently still in custody- one of which one is a UK representative of ‘The Family’.
314kg of cocaine and 220kg of cannabis were seized over the year-long probe.
The Guardia said the gang used ‘sophisticated double bottoms in various vehicles including lorries and cars to transport the vacuum-packed drugs’.
The drugs – cocaine and marijuana- were taken to a Castellon warehouse where products were stored to simulate a legal cargo shipment.
“A heavy-duty tractor unit with a semi-trailer, bearing Irish licence plates, was used to export the drugs, as the drug was destined for Ireland,” the Guardia stated.
They added that the vehicle, with the narcotics hidden in false bottoms, normally left the warehouse half-full so that other legal goods could be loaded up at a nearby outlet.
It then went to France for the long journey to Ireland.
Goods worth over €1 million were seized by the Guardia, including 12 luxury cars, four international transport trucks, €35,000 in cash, a pistol with ammunition, four computers, and 35 mobile phones, as well as various documents.
