Drug gang with Costa connection busted
Distribution company’s fleet of trucks used for transportation
A RESIDENT of Orihuela Costa allegedly played a ‘fundamental part’ in an international drug smuggling gang busted by the National Police.
The criminal network was based in the city of Albacete and supplied with marijuana and cocaine from the coast, according to a spokesman for the force.
A total of 10 suspects have been arrested, and 140 kilos of marijuana and 1kg of cocaine seized.
The investigation began by looking into a man who had just got out of prison after being caught with 7kg of cocaine in 2014, when he was leading a gang in Albacete.
Surveillance showed he was closely collaborating with a Spanish man who ran a mechanic’s workshop in Albacete, where members of the gang held meetings.
The gang acquired a company that distributed goods by road, which had a fleet of trucks they used to transport drugs.
They installed a frontman
living in Pozohondo (Albacete) as the company’s administrator. A man with Swedish nationality, but originally from Iran, lived in Orihuela Costa and was in charge of finding clients in other countries, such as Sweden, Lithuania and Turkey.
Another obtained marijuana in Murcia to be sent to other countries where its price was up to six times higher.
In October 2021, the investigation detected a shipment of marijuana in Sangonera la Verde (Murcia).
The truck driver was surprised at a police checkpoint at
La Junquera (Gerona) on the Spain-France border, where officers found 188kg of the drug hidden amongst aubergines being transported from Almería to Sweden.
In January another five members were arrested and three plantations with a total of 162 cannabis plants dismantled in Librilla, Sangonera la Verde and Albacete.
In parallel, a series of ‘lightning deliveries’ of cocaine stashed in hidden compartments were being made by gang ‘couriers’ from the coast to Albacete.
One of these deliveries was made days before Christmas by the ringleader himself, who was arrested with 880g of cocaine. This was followed by searches of several distribution points in Albacete, which seized 100g of cocaine and 394g of hashish.
The police operation managed to disband the gang, also seizing €16,500 in cash, three vehicles, a pistol and other evidence in the process.
The investigating court ordered three of the suspects to be held on remand and imposed precautionary measures on the rest.