Police pounce on ‘pink cocaine’ gang
Armed officers carried out a series of raids
A GANG which had been manufacturing and dealing drugs in Murcia and Alicante provinces has been rounded up in a large-scale operation following months of investigation by the National Police.
The organisation was based in various homes in Cartagena and San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia, as well as in Alicante, Elche and Crevillente, according to a spokesman for the force.
The police operation involved more than 120 officers and resulted in the arrests of 15 people.
Officers searched 11 of these addresses, at one of which in Alicante city they dismantled a laboratory for manufacturing 2C-B, known as pink cocaine, where they seized 100 single-gram wraps of the drug and 286 pills, as
well as 3kg of a substance for adulterating it, scales, presses and other equipment.
During the other searches, the police seized a total of 3kg of cocaine, 50g of hashish, 250kg of marijuana buds that were being dried, 2,000kg of
dried marijuana branches with buds on, and 1,920 cannabis plants – which were in a warehouse in San Pedro.
Officers also confiscated €48,000 in cash, 15 cars and two motorcycles.
The gang had significant infrastructure in these homes, dividing duties amongst its members and taking stringent security precautions, as evidenced by the discovery of three firearms, two 9mm parabellum pistols and a blank-firing pistol which had been modified to fire real ammunition, the spokesman noted.
Several shotguns can also be seen in the police videos of the raids.
The suspects detained were 10 men and five women, all Spanish and Colombian citizens aged between 21 and 51.
They are accused of belonging to a criminal organisation, drug dealing and illegal possession of weapons.
A duty court in Cartagena ordered eight of the detainees to be remanded in custody.