An international drug trafficking organisation has been dismantled following the seizure of 11 tonnes of hashish
Joint operation between the Tax Agency and the Mossos d'Esquadra
- The joint investigation has been carried out for more than a year in three phases and has led to the imprisonment of 16 members of the organization of various nationalities, including its leaders.
- Four boats, three vehicles, electronic devices and abundant documentation seized
- The organization had great logistical preparation and had even planned transoceanic shipments of cocaine from South America via merchant ships and sailboats.
April 30, 2020 .- The Tax Agency and the Mossos d'Esquadra have managed to dismantle a major international criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking. The operation, called 'Zori', has been carried out for more than a year, under the direction of the 1st Court of Instruction of Tortosa, leading to the seizure of two sailboats loaded with more than 11 tons of hashish, two other vessels and various electronic material and documentation, as well as the imprisonment of 16 members of the organization, including its leaders.
The investigation began in mid-December 2018, when it became known that a criminal organisation dedicated to drug trafficking was trying to establish contacts with people who had the capacity and experience to carry out the transport of large quantities of hashish from the vicinity of the Moroccan coast to the Ebro Delta.
The first police investigations led to a man living in Tortosa, who had the experience and the necessary means to carry out a transaction of this nature.
First phase of the investigation
The organization had great logistical preparation and the capacity to use various maritime transports. The investigation has revealed that they had planned everything from high seas rescues for cocaine shipments transported on merchant ships to transoceanic transports from South America, using sailboats capable of holding hundreds of kilos of cocaine.
They could also carry tons of hashish on cargo ships, fishing boats, semi-rigid boats or sailboats. Finally, this was the system chosen and it was successfully intercepted on two occasions.
As often happens in large-scale transactions linked to drug trafficking, there were a series of incidents that forced the criminal organization to delay transports over time: the tense situation in Morocco related to anti-drug operations, which made it inadvisable to attempt any transport, or the presence of warships from EU countries that were carrying out maneuvers in the area.
Investigators were able to take advantage of this delay in transport to identify several members of the organisation who were preparing a shipment on a sailboat measuring approximately 19 metres in length. The suspects performed various functions: crew contract, the choice of vessel and the person who closed the agreements to carry out the operation.
Investigators were able to establish that the first transport was scheduled from the Port of Valencia for the early hours of May 10, 2019. The traffickers' objective was to reach the Alboran Sea to receive the drugs and then deliver them to Libya.
Three days later, in the afternoon, two Customs Surveillance patrol boats from the Tax Agency, the 'Paíño', based in Palma de Mallorca, and the 'Albatros', based in Valencia, managed to intercept the sailboat, named 'Open Sea', at a critical time for the crew. The overload of drugs, with nearly 6,000 kilos of hashish, had put the boat in serious difficulties, which was already at risk of sinking. The three crew members were arrested and the court ordered their imprisonment. The price of the drug on the illicit market is believed to have been worth around 35 million euros.
Although this first shipment had been successfully aborted, the main members of the organisation had still not been identified and the agents were aware that they were preparing other shipments.
Second phase of the investigation
In this new phase, investigators detected the appearance of new members in the organization who, together with the initial members, were already planning a new shipment of hashish.
Surveillance officers and Mossos d'Esquadra agents found out that the main suspect, a Moroccan national living in Argentona (Barcelona), would be in charge of coordinating the actions in Morocco. In this case, the drugs were to be loaded onto a boat at a point on the Moroccan coast, transferred to a sailboat and taken to Libya.
Again, various complications arose that delayed the transport. The suspects tried unsuccessfully to carry out the shipment on up to three occasions: Pressure from the Moroccan authorities, a breakdown and a storm again put the shipment in difficulties.
Finally, in the early hours of March 26, 2020, they managed to set sail for Libya. Only a few hours after the transfer, the 'Abanto' patrol boat of the Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance, based in Cartagena, managed to board the sailboat, named 'Long Less', arrested the three occupants and confirmed that they were transporting 161 bales containing 5,280 kg of hashish valued at around 31 million euros.
The detainees, of Tunisian, Algerian and Spanish nationality, were brought before the court on duty in Cartagena, which ordered their preventive imprisonment.
Shortly after completing the search of the sailboat, the joint investigation team, in coordination with the Investigative Court and the Public Prosecutor's Office, launched a broad operation, designed in phases, with the aim of ensuring the arrest of the rest of the suspects and any evidence that could be located in various properties.
Research exploitation phase
The final phase of the research had a double objective: On the one hand, the arrest of those under investigation and the preservation of evidence, and on the other, establishing operational safety and health criteria taking into account the state of alarm declared due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence the device was carried out in four phases:
- Phase 1, March 27: Six raids and searches were carried out, two in Valencia and one each in Cabanes (Castellón), Cambrils (Tarragona) and Rubí and Argentona (Barcelona). Four people were arrested, one Algerian, one Spanish and two Moroccan, who are the main leaders of the organization. All four were sent to prison.
- Phase 2, April 8: Four raids and searches were carried out in Sueca (Valencia), Vinaroz (Castellón), San Carlos de la Rápita and Tortosa (Tarragona), in which four people were arrested. In addition, two more people were arrested in Menorca and Cambrils. On this occasion, five of them went to prison.
- Phase 3, April 14: Seven raids were carried out, one in Valencia, two in the province of Tarragona, in the towns of l'Ametlla de Mar and five in Roquetes, and five people were arrested, one of whom was sent to prison.
- Phase 4, April 21: Two members of the organisation were arrested in Valencia and eleven people were heard giving statements as suspects.
In the exploitation phase of the investigation, four vessels have been intervened: the two sailboats loaded with drugs, a fishing boat and a semi-rigid boat that the suspects had purchased and equipped with four 300-horsepower engines for the purpose of transporting hashish and which they had already prepared for trafficking. Three vehicles, money, drugs, mobile phones, electronic devices and a large amount of documentation were also seized.
The operation as a whole has had the participation of the regional Customs Surveillance units of the Tax Agency in Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Murcia and Andalusia, and the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) of the Mossos d'Esquadra.
Operation filming (to download the video, enter the following web address):