Historic anti-drug operation in northern Spain: 400 police officers, sniffer dogs and excavators

The National Police carried out the largest operation in the fight against drug-trafficking, money-laundering, robberies, arms trafficking and exortion in the history of Cantabria (north of Spain) on Wednesday.

The first thing the residents of Torrelavega (Cantabria) heard early on Wednesday morning was the helicopter. "It wasn't even 5am," Milagros, who lives right in the city centre, said.

It was the National Police aircraft, the vanguard of a major operation that deployed more than 400 police officers, several vans and excavators on the border with Cartes.

The police carried out a total of 25 searches in homes and industrial buildings throughout the morning. The sealed operation is still ongoing.

"We're not surprised they're taking action because we all know what goes on here," a resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, said. "What nobody expected was this deployment, it looks like something out of a film, with excavators and everything."

"It was as if half the town were cordoned off," other residents said. No one could enter or leave without the police inspecting them. Five excavators were waiting to work on a property where investigators hoped to find something. They were also using sniffer dogs to locate narcotics and cash. "I didn't know the police had excavators," a passerby said.

A large group of uniformed officers and another of plainclothes officers first focused on a house search. There, they confiscated several roosters that were allegedly being used for cock-fighting. The neighbours walked by, unwilling to say anything out of fear.

They would only confess where nobody could see them. "They don't do anything to us, they respect us, but it's true that we're a bit fed up because we all know what they do," a man who lives a few metres from the house told the police. The house is very close to the Chinese bazaar that burned down in August 2024.

The police believe that the individuals under investigation belong to dangerous clans. Uniformed police carrying rifles were blocking traffic and cordoning off the area.

"Early this morning, nobody could get in or out. It was awful. It was a bit scary," another resident said. "Then an officer told me it was an operation and that he couldn't tell me anything." This same witness said that plainclothes officers were already loitering in the area on Tuesday afternoon. "Maybe they were preparing the ground," the resident said.

Wednesday's events are the result of an investigation by the public prosecution and the courts that began over a year ago and remains under seal. What government delegate Pedro Casares was able to confirm is that this is the largest police operation ever in Cantabria in terms of number of officers.

Many residents gathered near the excavators to see what the police were looking for. "We understand they're looking for something buried on the property this family owns," a witness said.

"This is complex information to process, but it's the best tool we have to fight crime in our town. We, as institutions, must support it," Mayor Javier López Estrada said. He stressed that "Torrelavega is a safe town", but "there are individuals and networks that operate outside the law".

"I want to thank them for their efforts," López Estrada said as a gesture of gratitude for the police's work.