FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
An international operation has hit a criminal organization that was distributing drugs from South America to Europe. Five people have been arrested, three in Spain and two in the Netherlands, who are accused of drug trafficking, money laundering and the introduction of 2348 kilograms of cocaine into Spain.
Drug seizures were made in the port of Bilbao in 2020 and in Algeciras between 2021 and 2022. The first quantity of drugs was seized in the port of Bilbao in April 2020, where 1,100 kilograms of cocaine were seized in a sea container from Ecuador, camouflaged inside a load of bananas.
This seizure enabled Spanish agents to begin the operation, putting them on the trail of this important international criminal organization specializing in extensive drug trafficking.
Fruit import companies for cocaine import
Over the months, it became possible to identify several fruit import companies specifically created to bring large loads of cocaine into Spain via sea containers, all in Madrid. Meanwhile, Spanish authorities were able to intercept another shipment in the port of Algeciras of 1,152 kilograms of cocaine in September 2021 and then another shipment of 96 kilograms of cocaine in November 2022, both managed and coordinated by the same criminal organization.
Analysis of coded communications
The investigation was based on months of analysis of the state-of-the-art encrypted chat systems used by the organization in its communications with the sole objective of evading police action related to drug trafficking operations. Thanks to this analysis, it has become possible to fully identify the persons responsible for this business network, located in different countries, who have directly managed the introduction into Spain of these shipments of cocaine from other countries.
For all these reasons, at the end of last November, the final phase of this operation was carried out, with a total of six house checks being carried out simultaneously; four of them between the provinces of Madrid and Alicante, and the other two in the Dutch capital. Five people were arrested in them, three in Spain and two in the Netherlands, all directly related to the management of the seized cocaine shipments.
Arrests outside Europe
Cooperation between all police forces has been continuous throughout the investigation, which has allowed North American authorities to arrest a known drug trafficker of Albanian origin, residing in the United States. He is accused of running a vast drug-trafficking network that distributed cocaine to more than 15 countries, including Spain, apparently planning to build an "underwater drone" with the capacity to autonomously transport large quantities cocaine between South America and Europe. This investigation in the US coincides with the one carried out in Spain after the cocaine bust in the Port of Bilbao, mentioned above.
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