Joint operation of the Tax Agency, the National Police, the National Police of Colombia, the American HSI and the authorities of Ecuador

• The investigation has led to the complete dismantling of an international criminal organization dedicated to cocaine trafficking, and the arrest of its seven members.
• In the first shipment, which arrived at the port of Barcelona, the drugs were found in a container carrying bags of ceramic glue; Just one month later, a second shipment was made, this time to the port of Valencia, with the narcotic substance hidden in the base of a container of bananas.
• As a result of the searches, more than 80,000 euros in cash, three vehicles and nine mobile phones, some of them with encrypted communications, were seized.

May 25, 2023.- Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with agents of the National Police, the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of the National Police of Colombia, the American Homeland Security Investigations and the authorities of Ecuador, have seized more than 1,200 kilos of cocaine hidden in three maritime containers from South America. The investigation has led to the complete dismantling of an international criminal organization dedicated to cocaine trafficking, and the arrest of its seven members.

In the first shipment, which arrived at the port of Barcelona, the drugs were found in a container carrying bags of ceramic glue. Just one month later, a second shipment was made, this time to the port of Valencia, with the narcotic substance hidden in the base of a container of bananas. As a result of the searches, more than 80,000 euros in cash, three vehicles and nine mobile phones, some of which had encrypted communications, were seized.

The investigation began at the beginning of this year thanks to international cooperation channels in the fight against drug trafficking.
From the outset, the investigation focused on an international criminal organisation allegedly involved in the introduction of maritime containers contaminated with cocaine through the ports of Barcelona and Valencia.

Business network for receiving shipments

Following several police investigations, investigators identified a business network created by the organisation to receive cocaine shipments in Spain, focusing its activity on the main company based in Valencia.

At the end of January, investigators detected a first shipment of three containers from the port of Cartagena (Colombia) to the port of Barcelona, declaring bags of ceramic glue as legal merchandise. After inspection, they intercepted 1,003 packages of cocaine in one of the containers, with a gross weight of 1,124 kilos. Following this intervention, the criminal network changed the company to which the containers in which it hid the narcotic substance were sent, in order to mask the arrival of a new batch of drugs.

In mid-March, while the agents were confirming numerous meetings and encounters of the members of the organisation in charge of receiving the drugs, two new containers from Guayaquil (Ecuador) arrived at the port of Valencia.

Finally, investigators noted that the containers were moved to a warehouse – headquarters of the company controlled by the network – and they observed some of its members manipulating the base of one of them and removing numerous packages from inside the structure.

This led to the arrest of five people and, after an exhaustive inspection of the two containers, the seizure of 130 packages of cocaine with a gross weight of 143 kilos. Several vehicles were also found in the warehouse, one of which had a hidden compartment in the rear of the vehicle, designed for transporting the narcotic substance.

Seized items

The agents carried out two searches, seizing 80,000 euros in cash and nine mobile phones, some of which had encrypted communications, at the home of the main person responsible for the network.

As the investigation progressed, a new line of investigation was opened into the people behind the import of the goods, who were responsible for the expenses and documentary procedures involved. In this way, at the end of March, a sixth person was arrested, responsible for the other company in the criminal network, and who had been denied receipt of the first container in which more than a ton of cocaine was found.

Finally, in mid-April, investigators arrested another member of the organization who was in charge of obtaining and providing the hidden vehicle for the transportation and distribution of drugs, completely dismantling the organization.