Riding school hid cocaine lab
THE NATIONAL Police have released details of the drugs raid in Almoradí on February 10, for which the Easy Horse Care Rescue centre was called on to take in several equines.
A cocaine laboratory capable of producing up to 600 kilograms per month was dismantled and 30 people arrested, revealed a spokesman for the force.
The investigation began in January 2020 when officers detected a large amount of chemical substances used for this purpose had been diverted to the region.
Their enquiries identified a gang led by a resident of Alicante with criminal records for drug dealing and illegal possession of weapons.
Officers followed a senior gang member’s vehicle being driven by two people in charge of distribution.
They visited various places and met with an unknown person before the officers stopped the vehicle and discovered €18,120 in cash and 4.2g of cocaine inside, as well as a secret compartment for drugs.
Both people were arrested, and officers searched their homes and seized approximately 400g of cocaine, €486,620 in cash and two highend vehicles. Three other people were arrested as well.
In parallel, police established that the gang was being supplied with large quantities of chemical precursors and equipment to set up a laboratory in a huge warehouse in Almoradí.
The building had been illegally converted to house different front businesses: a vehicle workshop, a horse riding school and a breeder of dogs and birds.
A house had been built in the centre and converted into a secret laboratory, which was guarded at all times by gang members who constantly patrolled the area and checked on vehicles and people passing nearby.
One of the walls, which was used to hang saddles and other riding equipment, hid a secret door that was opened using a remote control.
This led to a compartment that looked like a changing room where protective equipment required in the lab was kept.
One of the panels in the changing room was activated by another security mechanism that released a catch opening a door into the lab, which was in full production at the time of the police raid.
Officers seized about 17 kilos of cocaine in various states, as well as over 3,000 litres of chemical precursors and solid substances used to extract, adulterate and transform base cocaine into powder form (cocaine hydrochloride).
There was also an annexe building which the gang used to prepare fake floors for vehicles to make secret compartments for hiding drugs and cash.
During the raid, which was carried out by the force’s elite special operations group (GEO), four people were arrested including two ‘cooks’ who carried out the chemical processing.
Also as part of the operation, a total of 15 homes were searched around the Valencia and Murcia regions.
Officers seized a total of 52kg of cocaine hydrochloride, 20 high-end vehicles, three jet skis, a refrigerated lorry, two short firearms and three long firearms, and €650,000 in cash, amongst other evidence.
At one home they found a cock fighting ring underneath which a bag containing 400g of cocaine pills had been buried.
In relation to these searches, another 25 people were arrested, which the spokesman assured has completely disbanded the gang.
Police were surprised by the sophistication and capacity of the laboratory, and believe that the gang distributed large quantities of cocaine, hashish and marijuana, using a network of businesses to launder the profits.