• The arrests include the main leaders of the criminal network, which introduced large quantities of cocaine in jam drums into Catalonia.

• More than 100 kilos of cocaine were seized, with a value in the illicit market of more than 6 million euros

• The criminal organization managed a network of apartments from Barcelona where drugs were sold and distributed, and had branches in Colombia, from where cocaine shipments were imported.

• The network had people who brought the drugs to the home by direct order of the buyer, or by order of the heads of the organization.

• To the narcotics business, the main suspects also added forceful robberies to jewelry stores and "narco assaults"

• Precautionary measures have been adopted on 20 properties, 36 bank accounts and 16 vehicles

July 19, 2024.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, together with agents of the Generalitat Police - Mossos de Esquadra of the Criminal Investigation Division, has dismantled a international criminal organization specialized in cocaine trafficking, which was imported from Medellín (Colombia) to Barcelona. The investigation, supervised by the Court of Instruction number 24 of Barcelona, ​​has led to the arrest of 40 people, including the main leaders of the criminal network, and the seizure of more than 100 kilos of cocaine, with a value in the illicit market of more than 6 million euros.

Of all the drugs seized, the latest seizure stands out, which was seized in Colombia on July 8 with the collaboration of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office Against Drug Trafficking and the Anti-Narcotics Police of this country. That day, a shipment of 40 kilos of cocaine that was going to be transported to Barcelona to be distributed by drug traffickers in the different points of sale that the organization controlled in the city was intercepted near Medellín.

The investigation begins at the end of May 2022, in Sabadell, when at ungodly hours a group of people accessed the interior of the warehouse of a company specialized in logistics and transportation and forced four drums containing jam. Initially, only damage was observed to the drums and the option of robbing the company was ruled out, but immediately, when the manipulations that had been carried out inside the metal barrels were verified, and that these came from Medellín, it was suspected that inside There could be cocaine hidden in the jam.

This was the beginning of a long and complex investigation focused on a criminal network that aimed to introduce large quantities of cocaine into Catalonia with this transport system.

Framework installed in Barcelona, ​​with international connections

This investigation, carried out by the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Central Organized Crime Area of ​​the DIC, converged with another that the DIC Barcelona had initiated in July 2022 on different points of sale located in the Barceloneta neighborhood. .

The people who controlled and directed them obtained cocaine from different suppliers and had also invested in a future importation of this drug from South America to supply their distribution points. The particularity of these two investigations, in their original phase, was that the person responsible for planning, managing and executing the importation, known as 'El Barbas', was identified through different means.

Thus, as a result of the first procedures carried out on the international import discovered in Sabadell, three other similar shipments of jam from Colombia were also detected, carried out by the same people investigated, and for which different companies had been used with the aim of masking the real identity of the people behind the plot. The analysis of these shipments made it possible to discover that the oldest import dated back to 2019, a single drum, followed by two others in 2020, three in 2021 and the four drums from Sabadell in 2022.

The fence is tightened

They made one shipment per year, and in 2023 they tried to do it again, but in this case the arrest in April of that year in Barcelona of one of the import managers when he was carrying out a cocaine transaction led to the criminal network stopping the new shipment. drug consignment. Months later they started from scratch, already with new companies in origin and destination, in this case in Colombia and Portugal.

Complications arose again in the month of February of this year, when they already had drums ready to be shipped to Europe, and believing that they would not pass customs controls in South America, the investigators decided to give up on the shipment and removed it to a warehouse in Sabaneta ( Medellin). The exporters recovered a part, and the rest remained at that point until July 8 of this year.

That day, within the framework of the investigation, and in collaboration with the National Police and its links in Colombia, the Anti-Narcotics Police of this country, complying with the guidelines of its Prosecutor's Office and the International Rogatory Commission sent from the Investigative Court number 24 of Barcelona, ​​proceeded to open these drums. Inside they located 40 kilos of cocaine, ten in each drum.

Drugs thrown from car during police chase

The part of the investigation that began in Barcelona was directed towards a criminal organization formed, mainly, by a local family clan that had and controlled various apartments as points of sale, mainly in the Barceloneta neighborhood, but also in other districts, like Horta-Guinardó. The leaders of the network were two brothers, a man and a woman, and their respective partners, who maintained contact with Colombia. Among the other components were ex-partners, siblings and children.

In addition, the organization had a series of workers, whose task was to sell drugs at home - 'riders', in the slang -, who received the order directly from the buyer, or by order of the heads of the organization, and were They move to the agreed point to deliver the narcotic.

In October 2022, a police action was carried out where one of the leaders of the organization, along with his partner, were detected while they were transporting cocaine. Different uniformed police units tried to stop them, and they fled through the streets of Barcelona, ​​throwing packages of drugs out of the vehicle windows.

Finally they were arrested and 47 kilos of cocaine were seized. The detained man, who was one of the leaders of the organization, is currently in a prison, while his partner, who was a minor at the time, was released.

Drug trafficking, jewelry store robberies and "narco assaults"

The investigation efforts made it possible to discover that the main suspects were not only dedicated to obtaining narcotic substances for distribution and final sale. They also committed strong robberies at jewelry stores and "narco assaults"; that is, violent robberies of other traffickers posing as police officers and taking their merchandise.

The main person in charge of managing and diversifying the criminal activity was one of the leaders of the organization, who in July of last year was arrested, along with his partner, also responsible for the organization, when he was transporting nearly 10 kilos of cocaine to one of the homes they had in Riells i Viabrea (Girona), and which they used as a hiding place. This address was used to deposit large consignments of drugs and from here they were extracted to supply the different points of sale. For this fact he was sentenced to more than six years in prison, which he is already serving.

During the investigation, the different points of sale managed by the criminal network were located, as well as the identities of the people who were in charge of the final sale. But, at the same time, the organization's own drug suppliers were identified and at this point two people who had direct contact with a source in Colombia were identified.

Deployment of 250 troops to neutralize the criminal organization

Last Wednesday, July 3, in coordination with the Court and the Prosecutor's Office, and with a deployment of more than 250 police officers, a device was carried out to carry out 20 entries and searches in Barcelona capital, Vacarisses (Barcelona), Riells i Viabrea and Salamanca, and at the same time arrest those involved in the plot.

As a result of the police operation, 38 people were arrested and different highly fragmented narcotic substances were seized and ready to be supplied from the dismantled points of sale, as well as other rock fragments.

The drug seized was cocaine (about four kilos in raw weight), marijuana (about nine kilos in raw weight), hashish (three kilos), ketamine (178.7 grams), methamphetamine (128 grams), crystal (174 grams) and heroin (nine grams). Precisely for the treatment, adulteration and preparation of cocaine, a small hiding place with chemicals and utensils for cutting and manufacturing the aforementioned drug has been located in one of the properties seized.

Also seized were 161,900 euros in cash collected from all the searches, a gold ingot weighing 20 pure grams, six firearms (three pistols, a revolver and two shotguns – one of which was sawed off) – as well as abundant ammunition, and Five vehicles and two motorcycles were removed from those investigated. In addition, computer documentation was located relating to cocaine imports carried out by the dismantled network.

Economic research

Economic investigators identified numerous property transactions, mainly acquisitions of real estate and vehicles over the last six years. As a result of this investigation focused on the laundering of money from a crime against public health, two of the main suspects and their families were arrested, including a renowned psychologist who served as the main front man, and five other people for their participation. in various money laundering operations.

The total amount of money laundering operations exceeds 1.3 million euros, in which a significant volume of cash used to carry out purchase and sale operations of movable and immovable property has been identified.

During the operation, investigators from the Central Economic Crimes Area carried out economic and property measures on some of those investigated. The economic investigation allowed the blocking and adoption of precautionary measures on 20 properties, 36 bank accounts and 16 vehicles.