Operation 'TOP'

In a joint operation of the Tax Agency and the National Police

• A drying machine, four chemical synthesis machines and 14,500 liters of chemical products were seized that could have produced more than 1,000 kg of amphetamine and MDMA, with a value of more than €5,000,000 on the illicit market.
• In the successive phases of the operation, 16 people have been arrested and 90 kg of marijuana have been seized in France, 145 kg of marijuana and 261 kg of hashish in the United Kingdom and 199 kg of marijuana in Spain
• The international nature of the criminal organization has required the collaboration of the NCA police agency of the United Kingdom and the French Police Nationale

October 29, 2018 .- Officials from the Tax Agency and agents from the National Police have aborted the installation of one of the largest synthetic drug laboratories in Spain. With the chemicals and the intervened machinery – one drying machine and four chemical synthesis machines – more than 1,000 kg of amphetamine and MDMA could have been produced, with a value of more than 5,000,000 euros in the illicit market. In successive phases of the operation, 16 people have been arrested (two in France, seven in the United Kingdom and seven in Spain) and 90 kg of Marijuana have been seized in France, 145 kg of marijuana and 261 kg of hashish in the United Kingdom and 199 kg of marijuana in Spain. The international nature of the criminal organization has required the collaboration of the NCA police agency of the United Kingdom and the French Police Nationale.

The investigations began in May 2017 when a company, which was under investigation, sold industrial machinery that could be used in the production process of synthetic drugs. Once the destination of the machinery was identified, the researchers confirmed the existence of an international organization dedicated to the export of narcotic substances, specifically hashish and marijuana, and that would be collecting machinery and chemical products to establish, in the province of Málaga, a laboratory for the large-scale manufacturing of synthetic drugs.

European operation and various executive phases

To dismantle this criminal network, and given its transnational nature of action, the collaboration of different European police forces with the investigative units of the National Police and Customs Surveillance was necessary.

Thus, the British National Crime Agency seized a container from our country in May of this year in Liverpool that contained 406 kilos of cannabis. In the intervention, seven members of the organization were arrested, three of them investigated in Spain and with great hierarchical weight in the criminal network.

Likewise, in France, collaboration with the Police Nationale allowed the seizure in April of this year of a truck transporting 1,500 kg of formic acid and formamide, chemicals of particular importance for the manufacture of synthetic narcotics. In the month of June, another truck was found carrying 90 kg of marijuana in its load, and two people were arrested in the French country.

After the various seizures of shipments in Europe, investigators intensified the surveillance carried out on the criminal organization in Spain, achieving the seizure in La Junquera (Gerona) of 67 kilos of marijuana hidden in a truck transporting vacuum cleaners.

One of the largest seizures of cannabis in recent years

In parallel, the agents detected in the province of Malaga two industrial warehouses and a garage in which 132 kilos of marijuana buds, 6,150 liters of chemicals intended for the production of synthetic drugs (formic acid, formamide, caustic soda) were stored. , hydrochloric acid and methylene chloride), a large drying machine, four chemical synthesis machines, various laboratory tools as well as documentation that included the formulation and steps necessary for the manufacture of certain drugs. In addition, 7,000 liters of hydrogen chloride were seized at the Prat airport in Barcelona and their end-use was the laboratory.

The operation, carried out in various phases and on an international basis, has made it possible to disrupt what would have been the largest synthetic drug laboratory in our country, with the production of more than 1,000 kg of amphetamine and MDMA, which would have reached a value of more than 5,000,000 euros in the illicit market. In total, 16 people have been arrested in France (two), the United Kingdom (seven) and Spain (seven).