Acting within the framework of the operation “Desvanes-Dunas 20”, The Guardia Civil has dismantled an important criminal organisation dedicated to introducing hashish into Spain from Morocco. In the same way, it offered its services to other gangs to introduce drugs through boats.
64 people have been arrested and another10 have been investigated for the alleged crimes of criminal organisation, drug trafficking, falsification of documents, usurpation of civil status, smuggling and illegal possession of weapons.
In the 38 searches carried out (16 in the province of Malaga, 15 in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz), 1 in Almería, 1 in Albacete, 2 in Alicante and 3 in Murcia) 2,313 kilos of hashish have been seized, along with 118,000 euro in cash, 22 high-speed boats valued at 6,000,000 euro. In addition, a mold was located for the manufacture of this type of vessels, 1 pistol with a silencer, 1 shotgun, 19 vehicles (heavy and light), more than 37,000 litres of gasoline for the refuelling of vessels at sea, frequency inhibitors, and communication equipment, among other effects.
A la carte services
The services they provided to other drug trafficking networks ranged from the manufacture and storage of the EAVs (High Speed Boats) commonly known as “narcolanchas”, to the supply of the necessary fuel for the cache of hashish on the coasts as well as the falsification of the documentation necessary to give the legal appearance of the ships, management of ports for launching, etc.
The leaders of the organisation had their bases of operations in the towns of Malaga, La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz) and Calpe (Alicante).
These individuals contacted, through buying and selling web pages, with sellers of semi-rigid boats, posing as supposed buyers and thus obtaining copies of the documentation.
Later they altered the documents in their length and beam data, to make them coincide with those of their “narcolanchas”.
Once they had the modified documentation, they labelled the boats with the usurped license plates and falsified the powers of the engines making them seem legal, but since the EAVs exceeded 1,000 hp, being illegal for private use.
They built their own “narcolanchas”
This group built the “narcolanchas” in industrial warehouses located in the Malaga towns of Monda, Coín and Antequera as well as in the town of Albacete. In this last town the researchers have found a mold for its manufacture.
Later they stored them in ships located in the towns of Crevillente (Alicante) and Antas (Almería) to transport them and dump them into the sea. They generally did so outside the Andalusian provinces due to police pressure exerted in the area in recent years, motivated by the “Carteia operation”.
Relevant interventions
During the investigation, the agents were able to determine that this group had carried out at least 23 launches, some of them in the Alicante towns of Calpe, Altea, Guardamar del Segura, or in the ports of Carboneras (Almería) and La Azohía (Murcia). that have been aborted by the Guardia Civil.
It has also been verified that this organisation launched an operation in Setúbal (Portugal) in October, although unsuccessfully, since they had a mishap, which caused the tractor head of the large tonnage truck and the semi-trailer that transported the boat ended up submerged in the Atlantic Ocean, leaving them abandoned in place and starting their flight to Spain.
On January 22, the investigators learned of a cache produced on the beach of “La Atunara” in the town of La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz), the drug of which was introduced into a van.
This vehicle was intercepted in the town of Mijas where the agents found 26 bales of hashish inside.
Similarly, on January 25, the investigators learned that two vehicles were transporting drugs from Campo de Gibraltar to a warehouse located in the “La Trocha” industrial estate in the town of Coín (Málaga).
Inside that ship, the drug was transferred to a “bathtub” truck for the transport of aggregates.
When the investigators intercepted this truck, they found another 26 bales of hashish on a double bottom made under the load of sand it was carrying.
The operation has been carried out by agents belonging to the Guardia Civil Command of Malaga, Alicante and OCON-SUR, who have had the support of agents of the Albacete, Murcia, Cádiz Command, of the Special Intervention Unit (UEI), the Rapid Action Group (GAR) and the Reserve and Security Group (GRS) of the Guardia Civil, as well as the Regional Centre for Analysis and Intelligence Against Drug Trafficking (CRAIN).
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