Joint operation of the Tax Agency and the National Police

• Nine people have been arrested and four tons of hashish, three submachine guns and all-terrain vehicles with trailers to transport the merchandise have been seized during the search.

• This is the second phase of an investigation carried out in October last year in which 4,500 kilos of the same substance were seized.

December 21, 2023.- Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with agents of the National Police, have dismantled a criminal group that ran a 'daycare center' with 4,000 kilos of hashish in the Cádiz town of Rota. Nine people have been arrested and four tons of the drug, three submachine guns and all-terrain vehicles with trailers for transporting the merchandise were seized during the raid.

The investigation is the second phase of an operation that took place in October last year when agents managed to dismantle part of a criminal organisation operating from Rota (Cádiz), which had already seized 4,500 kilos of hashish hidden in an industrial warehouse in the town of Lebrija. During the operation of the first phase of the investigation, the agents were involved in a shootout when they were received with gunfire by members of the organization who were guarding the drugs.

Following their investigations, investigators were able to confirm that the criminal network continued to carry out its illegal activities and that it also adopted personal and electronic security measures to avoid being investigated. After planning a complex operation, a search was carried out on the property used as a warehouse, which had to count on the collaboration of the Special Security Operations Groups of the National Police (GOES).

During the search, nine members of the criminal structure were arrested and 4,000 kilos of hashish were seized, which they intended to distribute to the various buyers of the merchandise, three assault rifles with ammunition and the all-terrain cargo vehicles with their trailers used to transport the merchandise.

After being brought before the court, the judicial authority ordered provisional imprisonment for the nine arrested.