Five arrests after gang plotting to send cocaine from Costa del Sol to Netherlands and UK is busted

Spain's Guardia Civil and the National Police force, in collaboration with the French customs authorities, have dismantled a criminal organisation linked to international cocaine trafficking. The operation has culminated in the arrest of five people and the seizure of 2,280 kilograms of cocaine.

Operation Levi-Lobera began in March, when investigators discovered that a criminal group was trying to send drugs from Fuengirola to the Netherlands using a heavy goods vehicle for freight transport.

After cross-checking the data obtained by both police forces, a joint task force was created in order to dismantle this criminal organisation.

With the information gathered by the investigators, which was provided to the French customs authorities, the aforementioned lorry was intercepted in French territory while it was carrying 826 kilograms of cocaine. One person was arrested.

Similarly, the criminal network had sent a second lorry a short distance from the first, which was also detected by investigators in the province of Barcelona, with 500 kilograms of cocaine inside.

The efforts of the investigators continued to bear fruit when, in May, a new road shipment to the UK was intercepted and 200 kilograms of cocaine were seized, leading to the discovery of a 'stash house', where the drugs remained hidden in British territory until distribution. Another 180 kilograms of the same narcotic substance were seized there.

Also in May, the police detected that packages were being smuggled by high-speed boats along the coast of Marbella, which allowed them to discover a new stash house in Mijas.

When the investigators went to search the house, the suspects set fire to it, with the aim of destroying it and making the drugs disappear. The police extinguished the fire, rescued and arrested two people. They seized 520 kilos of cocaine, several stolen vehicles and a submachine gun with plenty of ammunition.

The investigation was completed in August, with several raids and searches in Mijas, the town where the criminal organisation was based.

The operation culminated in the arrest of five people, the seizure of 2,280 kilograms of cocaine, several lorries, several vehicles with secret compartments made for hiding the drugs, three stolen vehicles and an MP15 submachine gun.

The detainees have been brought before the court for the crimes of drug-trafficking, illegal possession of weapons and membership of a criminal organisation.