World's largest network of drug traffickers busted with raids across Spain including 13 on the Costa del Sol

Juan Cano

Malaga

Monday, 22 July 2024, 17:22

A gang of criminals which ran the largest network of drug traffickers in the world has just been dismantled by police in Spain.

The investigation began in June 2020 and was carried out jointly with the UK authorities when a British organisation based in Spain was detected, which had international trade channels for trafficking cocaine from South America to Europe through Spain. Police investigations led to the identification of the criminals and the discovery they had a fleet of boats at their disposal, which they registered in the name of third parties, according to the ministry of the interior.

There was one robber in its ranks: a Norwegian ex-convict who, after 15 years behind bars for robbing banks and armoured vans, turned to drug trafficking. The gang, which had been sending large shipments to Europe for years, relied on the ringleader to keep the operation going.

The macro-operation, in which Spain's National Police worked together with Norwegian and British authorities, resulted in the arrest of 50 people in different countries and another 50 raids, of which 13 were carried out in Malaga province, where the criminal group was operating from.

The criminals allegedly lived a life of luxury on the Costa del Sol and owned businesses which allowed them to sell the profits they made from drug trafficking.

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The criminal organisation also operated on the islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, El Hierro and Lanzarote, establishing maritime links to South America with which they created "narco-routes". From the south of Spain, those in charge of the gang coordinated and directed the transport of each boat.

The alleged ringleader of the organisation, known as The Professor (El Profesor), recruiting members of the gang. The leader, who is believed to have been operating in drug trafficking for more than 20 years, had the full confidence of the Colombian and Mexican cartels, with whom he coordinated the production of the drug and its transport through South America until it could be shipped to Spain.

During the investigation, agents identified a total of 10 boats the organisation had authorised for the narco routes, and that had different operational bases in South America and Spain. They used ports of Valencia, Alicante, Almeria, Malaga and the Canary Islands.

On the other side of the Atlantic, they had bases in Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Barbados and Panama, where they kept the sailboats ready to await orders from The Professor and his lieutenant to set sail to load the drugs. The organisation's communications for these operations were carried out with encrypted security systems. The ringleaders had up to 15 telephone terminals each.

Once the criminal structure was known, police detected the preparation of two sailing ships that were going to receive more than 1,000 kilos of cocaine each. An operation in international waters which involved numerous countries - Norway, Bulgaria, Portugal, United Kingdom, Panama, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, France, Poland and Spain - was launched to stop the boats.

Officers carried out 28 searches in Spain in the provinces of Malaga (13), Valencia (6), Almeria (5), Alicante (2), Girona (1) and Murcia (1), where 26 people were arrested, allegedly members of the criminal organisation. Among those arrested are 16 Norwegians. One of them is a former bank and armoured car robber who had already served 15 years in prison and who, a year ago, had joined the ranks of the criminal group due to his criminal experience and respect he received from the Eastern European mafias.

In the searches carried out, 1,500 kilos of cocaine were seized and eight boats, 36 vehicles and more than 85 telephones confiscated.