A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• The drug traffickers hid the drugs inside bundles of wool, between live animals and in drawers with double bottoms under scrap pieces.

• Ten people have been arrested and 1,147 kilos of hashish, 755 kilos of marijuana, two guns, nine vehicles and almost 36,000 euros in cash were seized, among other items.

• An accident of a small plane dedicated to drug trafficking in Morocco managed to focus the objectives to be investigated and the international connections of the criminal group

June 28, 2023.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, in collaboration with Europol and the Regional Center for Analysis and Intelligence against Drug Trafficking (CRAIN), have exploited the 'Oveja'/'Musketeer' operation in which they have dismantled a criminal group based in Guadix (Granada) dedicated to the distribution to Central European countries of narcotic substances hidden among bundles of wool, live animals or scrap pieces.

Ten people have been arrested as alleged perpetrators of crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, against public health for drug trafficking, money laundering, illicit possession of weapons and electricity fraud.

In addition, 1,147 kilos of hashish, 755 kilos of marijuana and two pistols have been seized. 13 home searches have been carried out in the Granada towns of Guadix, Benalúa de Guadix, Alquife, Atarfe, Belicena, Pinos Puente and Calicasas, and in the Cadiz towns of Algodonales and Bornos. As a result of these actions, almost 36,000 euros in cash, 13 mobile phones, precision scales, vacuum packaging machines and documentation have been seized.

Seven bank accounts have also been blocked preventively and a preventive seizure of seven properties and 21 vehicles has been recorded.

Almost a year of operation

The operation began after French customs agents controlled a truck from Spain last July 2022 and located a shipment of marijuana and hashish hidden among the bundles of wool it was transporting.

The French agents contacted their counterparts in Spain to inform them of the arrest. The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard in Granada coincided in the investigation of a suspect, a resident of Guadix.

When the operation was beginning to take its first steps, the accident of a small plane linked to an international transport of narcotics occurred in the vicinity of Larache (Morocco), where the pilot was unharmed and fled with the drugs. Investigators have learned that the pilot was picked up by a member of the now dismantled organization.

As the investigation progressed, it was discovered that the organization used trucks from companies linked to the transportation of live animals to traffic narcotic substances. They hid the drugs in camouflaged double bottoms, sometimes among sheep and other times inside bundles of wool.

After several arrests, the pressure on the organization caused the criminals to radically change their method of concealment and began to send the drugs in large wooden boxes with double bottoms under scrap pieces.

However, investigators managed to seize two other shipments of hashish and marijuana. In one of these actions, a 7.65 mm caliber pistol was seized.

A part of the seized drugs had its end-use in Poland and the ringleaders had their headquarters in Guadix.

After identifying all the components of the criminal network and once the investigation phase was completed, authorization was requested from the competent judge to carry out 13 home searches in the provinces of Granada and Cádiz. As a result, ten people were arrested, almost 36,000 euros were seized and bank accounts and properties worth more than one million euros were blocked.

The Customs Surveillance Operational Unit of the Tax Agency in Granada, agents of the Organic Judicial Police Unit of the Civil Guard of Granada and Cádiz, as well as Europol and the CRAIN of the Civil Guard have participated in this operation. During the exploitation phase, agents from the Reserve and Security Group of the Civil Guard of Seville, the Citizen Security Unit of Granada, Jaén and Cádiz, as well as Citizen Security patrols from the Guadix and Armilla Company, have also participated.