Cleaner's dirty secret

A STREET cleaner in Torrevieja was using his job as a cover for dealing cocaine, according to the Guardia Civil.

He had been under investigation since May 2020 and allegedly sold doses to users while he was at work, but became so busy that he hired other people to help.

They had to complete strict hours from 08.00 until 23.00 Monday to Saturday for €600 per month.

If they did not hand over everything to the ringleader, he subjected them to brutal beatings, alleged a spokesman for the force.

On Sundays the ringleader did the sales and deliveries in his own high-end vehicle or sometimes his wife’s.

Officers also discovered that one of the dealers started his own side-line selling marijuana and hashish, while his octogenarian mother was still making wraps of cocaine for the main organisation for €100 per month.

Officers searched three homes in Torrevieja, including the ringleader’s where they seized 211 grams of rock cocaine, precision scales, marijuana, anabolic steroids, Viagra, a frequency inhibitor, a baseball bat, nine cartridges of 9mm Parabellum ammunition, a hunting crossbow, an air rifle, two vehicles, a motorcycle and over €3,000.

Drugs and other effects were also seized from the homes of one of the dealers and the ringleader’s ex-girlfriend.

A total of five men and five women were arrested, who are all Spanish and aged between 25 and 80.

The investigating court in Torrevieja jailed two of them on remand and released the rest charged with a public health offence and belonging to a criminal organisation.

The leader is also accused of money laundering, according to the spokesman.