AN innocuous mobile phone shop in Spain’s former narco capital has been found to have been selling gear for drug traffickers across the counter, reveals EL MUNDO.
The shop, in La Linea, disguised itself as a location where mobiles were repaired and sold when, in reality, it was distributing top technology and outdoor clothing to drug traffickers.
An investigation by the Policia Nacional has found that the store sold GPS with world maps, waterproof clothing and satellite telephones for those set to cross the Atlantic water on drug operations.
In the store a list of individuals was found – all those listed are accused of playing part in a cocaine trafficking operation in Cadiz which is said to have brought 57 tonnes of the drug to Europe last year. So far the Policia Nacional have confiscated 10,400 kilos during the Sombra Negra operation.
After uncovering the truth behind the shop the Policia Nacional took reports, which were seen by EL MUNDO, to a judge. These stated that it hid a ‘business dedicated exclusively to the sale of instruments that were used in narco trafficking and for security communication, whose only use is by underground figures’.
Leading this company, which is said to have not sold any traditional mobiles, was a 32-year-old engineer.
He has denied all charges against him and with the help of his lawyer managed to have his bail set at €50,000.
With no previous records he spent no time in prison, paid his bail and managed to not be charged for belonging to a criminal organisation or acting against public health.
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He was arrested in the early hours of November 19 last year at his home address in the Cadiz region of Campo de Gibraltar.
Represented by lawyer Juan Gonzalo Ospina, he is now banned from leaving the country and forced to present himself every 15 days in court.
During the investigation he was shown to be collaborative and responded to all the Fiscalia’s questions.
In a search of his property, investigators found €418, 775 euros in cash inside a safe and an additional €31,200 in a rucksack.
What officers found more worrying were the two helicopter drones and frequency suppressor at his home. These devices were not sold in the store.
“It is an industrial megadrone with heavy-lift capacity and superior autonomy, as it is powered by at least eight external batteries, can fly for hours, and takes up your entire terrace,” says the Central Narcotics Brigade about one of these drones in its reports.
The 32-year-old had no pilot’s license meaning that he could not use these devices legally.
When he testified at the Audiencia Nacional he said he used the drone because he feared he would be robbed of cash that his company generated during the daily journey between it and his home. This explanation sounded far-fetched to the Judge Maria Tardon and the Fiscalia Especial Antidroga.
This explanation was not the only thing that made officials suspicious throughout the investigation.
While the store operated ‘under the umbrella of legality and with the justification that it protects the free movement of the material it sells,’ its slogan raised alarm bells for the Brigada Central de Esupefacientes.
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It read, ‘we equip your nautical adventure with advanced technology, from mobile phones and trackers to clothing and essential supplies,’ according to documentation included in the court case.
Investigators found this to be a clear message aimed at attracting customers involved in drug trafficking.
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