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A criminal organization in Andalusia dedicated to international drug trafficking dismantled with 14 detainees

Joint operation of the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, with the collaboration of Europol

  • A total of 3,600 kilos of hashish, more than one and a half million euros in cash, three firearms, high-end vehicles and numerous documentation used to provide legal coverage for the transport of drugs were seized.

  • Twelve members of the organization have been imprisoned for crimes against public health for drug trafficking, membership in a criminal organization and money laundering.

  • The criminal network acquired the narcotic in Huelva and had a 'daycare' in Malaga from which it transported the merchandise to Seville for subsequent distribution to various European countries.

March 15, 2023.- Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, in a joint investigation, with the collaboration of Europol, have arrested 14 members of a criminal organization that transported large quantities of hashish from Spain to several countries in the European Union.

The police operation began in September 2021 when agents from the Seville Customs Surveillance Operational Unit and the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team of the Seville Civil Guard detected a group of individuals who were engaged in drug trafficking. internationally, with the town of Écija (Seville) as the epicenter of criminal activity.

As the investigations progressed, the agents were able to verify how there was another branch of the organization based in the province of Malaga. This was responsible for the acquisition of the narcotic substance in the town of Ayamonte (Huelva), its 'daycare' in Malaga and subsequent transportation to Écija (Seville), where the branch located in Seville would take charge of the narcotics, for their preparation and subsequent transportation to various European countries.

Thus, in the month of February 2022, a first truck bound for France was intercepted in the province of Granada, carrying 950 kilos of hashish hidden among its legal cargo.

Once this arrest occurred, the members of the organization increased security measures, modifying their usual 'modus operandi'.

Later, in October of that same year, another seizure of 1,000 kilos of hashish that was hidden in the load of another truck intercepted in La Carolina (Jaén) was carried out.

At this point, and after a stoppage in the Sevillian branch due to the two previous arrests, the investigation focused on the Malaga branch. In January 2023, the agents managed to intercept two vans loaded with hashish, one of them with about 600 kilos intercepted on the A-92 highway near Puebla de Cazalla (Seville), and the other with just over 900 kilos. kilos in the town of Pizarra (Málaga).

Records and effects seized

Once all the members of the organization were identified, on February 21, the operation was carried out, with 16 home searches authorized by the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Écija (Seville).

As a result of the searches carried out, more than one and a half million euros in cash were seized. Part of this money, 1,085,000 euros, appears hidden in a vehicle that one of the leaders of the organization had rented in the Sevillian town of Écija. That same morning the agents arrested a member of the organization when he was traveling on the roads of Malaga. In the vehicle that the detainee was traveling in, a double bottom was found, inside which 136,000 euros were found.

Likewise, the agents have seized three firearms, two of them long and a pistol with a silencer, and 14 vehicles, several of them high-end, as well as numerous documentation from the companies used to provide legal coverage for the transportation of drugs.

With this operation, this criminal organization based in the area of Écija (Seville) and Málaga is considered dismantled, with the arrest of 14 of its members, who are charged with crimes against public health, membership in a criminal organization and money laundering. capitals. The judge responsible for investigating the operation has ordered the imprisonment of twelve of its members.

Filming of operation (to download the video you must enter the following web address):

https://we.tl/t-qnelMe1d5a