International hash gang smashed
Police arrest 18 traffickers to date who were operating from properties in Gata de Gorgos, Teulada and Calpe
GANGSTERS running a highly-organised drugs trafficking highway through the Spanish Costas and into northern Europe have been arrested following a joint operation involving the Guardia Civil and National Police.
More than 80 officers took part in the investigation and detained gang members moving hashish purchased in Morocco, smuggled into Spain and transported up the east coast into France.
According to a police spokesman, the leaders of the operation, based in the Costa del Sol towns of Estepona and Benahavis, purchased the drugs and smuggled them into Spain. Distribution and storage of the drugs were run by a second branch of the gang in Alicante,
operating from properties in Gata de Gorgos, Teulada and Calpe.
The gang was branded ‘highly dangerous’ by the authorities as they were equipped with semi-automatic weapons and would employ hitmen if needed, police say, which made the investigation ‘difficult’.
So far there have been 18 arrests of suspects of various nationalities: Spanish, Moroccan, French and Indian - 10 alleged gang members were arrested in the Marina Alta and 12 are being held in custody.
Those arrested variously face charges linked to drug trafficking, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, theft of vehicles, forgery, kidnap and false imprisonment.
In addition, officers seized 400kg of hashish, a cache of firearms, more than €200,000 in cash, and six luxury vehicles.
Arrests took place in June but the details of the operation were only released this week after the court appearances of the 18 suspects as part of an ongoing investigation overseen by a judge at a Dénia court.
The investigation was launched in April in Alicante while Spain was still in the Covid-19 state of emergency lockdown - and carried out by a team of Guardia Civil detectives based at Calpe.
Officers were alerted to the possibility of a ‘complex’ trafficking gang operating in the Marina Alta and Baja, with suspects thought to be living in the area.
However, the net was quickly widened when it became clear there were two clearly divided branches of the drugs gang, with a second part of the same operation based on the south coast of Spain so the National Police from Málaga became involved.
Police discovered a defined ‘hierarchy’; the gang leaders based on the Costa del Sol were found to have ‘extensive’ links to shady underworld figures and ‘extensive’ criminal records.
The operation on the Costa Blanca was run by Spanish and Moroccan nationals. They are alleged to have stored drugs in Marina Alta safe houses and arranged the distribution network - including purchases.