The Guardia Civil have broken up a South American smuggling ring operating in Alicante and Valencia, which has been bringing drugs into Spain as well as a number of other European countries. A total of 43 arrests have so far been made, 14 in Alicante and Valencia, where more than 62 kgs of cocaine has been seized together with 1.2 million fake US dollars.
Have said that the cocaine entered Spain by a number of different methods: using people as “mules”, concealed in shipping containers, hidden in planes or even by the postal services.
Those arrested include suspects from Spain, Columbia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Romania, Morocco, Argentina, Peru and one American
The investigation got underway in October 2012, when officers began their investigation into the movements of a number of people of Colombian origin who were living in Alicante, Guadalajara and Madrid. The police believed that they were engaged in smuggling large quantities of cocaine into the country from South America.
Although the main route of the drug was into Spain, the group is understood to have been operating in a number of other European countries simultaneously, information that was shared by the Guardia Civil and a number of other European police forces.
The gang leaders, living in Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Peru and Ecuador, were responsible for obtaining the drug, and then arranging it’s movement into to Spain.
On payment the “mules” travelled from Spain to South America from where they returned with the drugs concealed hidden in bags and suitcases or impregnated in their clothing. The payments were often made in counterfeit U.S. dollars.
The profits from the activities were sent to Colombia by money transfer, using the identities of Colombian nationals, known as “smurfs”, many without their knowledge.
One of the main organisers, who is now in police custody, was previously linked to the murder and dismemberment of two Colombian nationals in Argentina in 2008.
Within Spain the Guardia have made 14 house searches in the provinces of Alicante, Murcia, Badajoz, Madrid, Guadalajara, Toledo, Zaragoza, Valencia, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
In the process they have seized more than 62 kilograms of cocaine, 32,000 euros in cash, more than 1.2 million U.S. dollars in counterfeit paper currency, bearer cheques with a total value of 175,533 euros, two firearms with ammunition, as well as counterfeit identification documents and passports.
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/41775/
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