Largest Criminal Network in Spanish Levante dismantled

Agents of the National Police have dismantled today an operation against the largest criminal network of the Spanish Levante dedicated to drug trafficking and money laundering.

The operation known as “Beautiful” commenced in 2008 and has led to the arrest of more than 40 people, the seizure of almost 4,000 kilos of cocaine, the intervention of firearms and a large number of high-end vehicles and luxury boats.

A hundred troops have carried out numerous arrests and a total of 13 searches have taken place in Alicante, Valencia, Madrid and Barcelona.

So far, more than 600,000 euros have been seized in cash in various compartments inside several homes, more than 600 bank accounts have been blocked and 300 properties valued at more than 20 million euros have been located.

They organization are also charged with laundering operations exceeding 7 million euros.

The criminal organization – mainly based in Alicante although it had strong ramifications in Madrid, Galicia, Valencia, Murcia and Barcelona – was engaged in drug trafficking in the European Union and, in parallel, laundered all its profits with different methods and systems . The investigation is included in one of the “EMPACT” of EUROPOL as a high priority case and was elaborated jointly with agents from Colombia, Portugal, Sweden, Romania, France and the British agency NCA.