Drug transportation gang dismantled in Malaga province

Drug transportation gang dismantled in Malaga province

National Police officers have dismantled a criminal organisation based in the province of Malaga that was dedicated to the transportation of narcotic substances. This organization had a fleet of industrial vehicles – some of them provided with double funds – that they used to import illicit merchandise.
In addition, it had a clandestine workshop in the province of Granada where they made coves, or double bottoms, for refrigerated trailers. This police action led to the arrest of 12 people, after five searches in the towns of Estepona, Malaga, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Granada, and Almeria. In total, more than 415 kilos of hashish, 291 marijuana plants, two tractor heads, and four trailers – two of them stained – were seized.
‘Operation Cajon’ was carried out by officers from the Organised Crime Group of the Local Police Station of Fuengirola, in conjunction with specialists from Group II of Narcotic Drugs of the Provincial Police Station of Malaga. It focused on the possible existence of a criminal organisation that offered its services as transporters to drug trafficking organisations.
Tractor heads and trailers had been cleverly modified, creating coves to hide the merchandise. In addition, they used international transportion that they carried out with legal companies for the importation of the drug.
As the investigation unfolded, the first breakthrough was when officers located a vehicle that could possibly be part of a drug transaction. The investigated vehicle in question was a tractor unit, used to transport large tonnage trailers.
It was discovered parked in a clearing on the Fuengirola to Mijas road, and surveillance was set up to keep an eye on it. Soon, several cars were observed approaching the vehicle, where the officers watched individuals transferring packages – five burlap bales – into the cabin of the tractor unit.
Once it got on the road, in the municipality of Velez-Malaga, police officers intercepted both the vehicle and a van that was accompanying it. Inside the vehicle, 188 kilos of hashish were found and seized.
This action put into operation simultaneous arrests in the municipalities of Estepona and Malaga. Included in the detainees was one of the main individuals under investigation, who they believe directed, coordinated, and supervised the operation.
Without terminating the police investigation, another surveillance operation was mounted a month later, on another tractor unit, and a refrigerated trailer. These were heading to the town of Sanlucar, possibly to load a new consignment of hashish. Officers intercepted the vehicle and discovered an elaborate double bottom built into it, where the criminals had hidden 227 kilos of hashish.
More arrests followed, specifically, two in Almeria, another in a warehouse in Sanlucar, where they loaded the trailer, and where an indoor marijuana plantation was located. A final search in a warehouse in Granada uncovered the organisation’s clandestine workshop that they used for making the coves for the refrigerated trailers.
In total, there were 12 arrests, five searches, the apprehension of 415,359 kilos of hashish, the seizure of an indoor crop with 291 plants, and a number of vehicles, including two tractor units and four trailers. All the detainees have been made available to Almeria’s Court of Instruction No6, as reported by lavozdecadiz.es.

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