A CRIMINAL organisation has been dismantled after trafficking Botox and running clandestine cosmetic clinics in Alicante, Valencia and Tarragona.
Guardia Civil officers seized over 1,200 vials of botulinum toxin (Botox) and 382 syringes of hyaluronic acid.
Operation Zlata took place on April 8 and 9 in Reus, Burjassot and Pilar de la Horadada.
They arrested one person and three others are under investigation for crimes against public health and professional misconduct.
Police confiscated over 1,000 needles and syringes from the properties, together with computer equipment and documents intended for the packaging and distribution of the material.
The network used social media to lure clients to private residences for invasive aesthetic treatments.
They performed these procedures without professional qualifications or health authorisation.
Investigators discovered the group was also distributing illegal medication to Lithuania and the UK.
The main leaders of the gang operated from Alicante, where they illegally acquired and stored the drugs in a private house in Pilar de la Horadada.
Police worked together with Spain’s medicines regulator, la Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (AEMPS), to dismantle the gang.
Authorities warn that these illegal treatments put clients at serious risk.
Unregulated Botox and dermal fillers can cause infections, severe reactions and long-term damage.
Officials say the illegal cosmetic market continues to grow and that criminal groups now treat the industry as a highly profitable international business.
Click here to read more Crime & Law News from The Olive Press.
