Court sentences 16 individuals linked to two drug-trafficking gangs based on Costa del Sol

A total of 16 people have been convicted of drug-trafficking through two criminal gangs that operated independently in Malaga province. One of the networks was based in Nerja on the eastern Costa del Sol, while the other operated mainly from Manilva on the western strip. Most of the criminals have been charged with crimes against public health and criminal organisation membership.

According to the 500-page court ruling, one of the branches was the so-called 'Rama Axarquía'. Three of its members were identified on 26 December 2016, as they were heading towards Algeciras (Cadiz) in a semi-rigid boat owned by one of them. In reality, at that moment they weren't carrying anything and they did not provide a reason for their trip.

The investigators detected that the boat owner had made 24 trips to Morocco between 2015 and 2017, with stays of one or two days. The defendant, who turned out to be the leader of this gang, had "numerous contacts with Morocco". He would discuss "quantities, prices and other details", although he would not use words such as 'hashish' and 'kilos' directly.

He later decided to carry out a major shipment of hashish using a boat he owned, which he had registered in another person's name to avoid being linked to it if it were intercepted. Afterwards, he faked another sale, this time to someone with no means of income to cover the supposed purchase price.

The vessel was located on 14 October when it was sailing with its lights off south of Torre del Mar. A customs surveillance helicopter observed packages being thrown overboard and managed to recover a total of 277,873.9 grams of hashish, worth 460,437.05 euros.

The other network - the 'Sabinillas branch' - also transported drugs from Morocco. It operated in the west of Malaga province.

Six of the defendants accepted the charges against them and the rest were tried and convicted. Two defendants were acquitted. Most of them were charged with crimes against public health and criminal organisation membership, but some were also accused of robbery and forgery of documents.