• The drugs arrived from Ecuador and were brought into Spain through the port of Valencia. From there they moved the merchandise to an industrial warehouse in Zaragoza.

• The cocaine was found inside more than 1,000 sacks of zeolite to try to prevent its identification.

• Seven people have been arrested, another three are under investigation, and three homes have been searched in Zaragoza, where more cocaine, cutting material, documentation, and other items used in drug trafficking were seized.

April 28, 2025.- The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, within the framework of Operation 'ZZ/Chabazita', have dismantled a criminal organization after intercepting a container from Ecuador with 30 kilos of cocaine introduced in bags of zeolite powder, a filter mineral. In this way, they intended to avoid the identification of the narcotic substance by the detection equipment at the port of Valencia.

The investigation was initiated by the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team of the Zaragoza Civil Guard in 2023, following an operation in which 27 kilos of cocaine were seized. In this case, the drugs were hidden among scrap metal that was brought into Spain through the port of Barcelona.

Investigators were able to determine the existence of several front companies dedicated to the transportation of legal international merchandise, which would use this logistics to conceal cocaine mixed with natural minerals. At that time, it was decided to jointly investigate the criminal organization with the Tax Agency in order to detect shipments that met these characteristics. As a result of this investigation, it was learned that a ship had arrived at the port of Valencia with a container of suspicious merchandise, thus initiating the controlled delivery by the two investigative bodies.

The suspicious cargo consisted of sacks of zeolite powder—a filtering and absorbent mineral with various common uses in agriculture, livestock farming, and naturopathy, among others—weighing 26 tons and distributed across 18 pallets. Mixed with this zeolite, the organization had introduced just under 30 kilos of cocaine.

As a result of this joint operation, and once all the evidence and the identity of those responsible for this criminal organization—perfectly hierarchical and whose members maintained strict security measures in their movements—were obtained, investigators learned that the narcotic substance was destined for an industrial warehouse, used as a drug storage facility, located in an industrial estate in La Cartuja Baja, Zaragoza.

Arrests and searches

Following an extensive operation, a shipment of merchandise that had just been unloaded at that location was intercepted on this ship. During the inspection of the merchandise, 18 pallets containing 1,040 sacks were found. These supposedly contained zeolite, but after undergoing drug testing, they tested positive for cocaine.

Four people were arrested there while unloading cargo at the facility. In addition, three more arrests were made that same day, two in Zaragoza and one in Valencia, members of the criminal network directly linked to the illicit activity. The seven were charged with alleged crimes against public health for drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal organization. Two of them were even sentenced to prison.

During the searches of the homes of three members of the network in Zaragoza, 200 grams of pure cocaine, almost a kilo of cutting material, €4,000 in cash, drug distribution materials, and relevant documentation demonstrating the criminal organization's activities were seized.

At the beginning of March, investigators began investigating three other members of the network, who were charged with the same crimes.

Modus operandi

The criminal organization was dedicated to the international transportation of narcotics from South American countries to Spain and, subsequently, their distribution throughout Europe.

The members of this network were perfectly organized and distributed their functions to carry out the activity, using front companies dedicated to the international transport of legal goods in which the drugs would be hidden. Once in our country, they rented industrial warehouses to store the narcotic substance and, from there, transport it to its end-use once it had undergone the chemical process of cocaine extraction. 

This operation, carried out by the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in Valencia and the EDOA of the Civil Guard in Zaragoza, involved members of the Reaction and Intervention Group (GRI) of the Central Mobile Brigade of the Customs Surveillance Service, USECIC, and the Reserve Unit of the Civil Guard in Zaragoza.