Joint operation of the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, with the collaboration of Europol

• A total of 3,600 kilos of hashish, more than one and a half million euros in cash, three firearms, high-end vehicles and numerous documents used to provide legal cover for the transport of the drug were seized.

• Twelve members of the organization have been ordered to prison for crimes against public health, drug trafficking, membership in a criminal organization and money laundering.

• The criminal network acquired the narcotic in Huelva and had a 'nursery' in Malaga from which it transported the merchandise to Seville for subsequent distribution to various European countries.

March 15, 2023.- Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, in a joint investigation, with the collaboration of Europol, have arrested 14 members of a criminal organization that transported large quantities of hashish from Spain to several countries in the European Union.

The police operation began in September 2021 when agents from the Customs Surveillance Operational Unit of Seville and the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team of the Civil Guard of Seville detected a group of individuals who were allegedly engaged in drug trafficking at an international level, with the town of Écija (Seville) as the epicenter of the criminal activity.

As the investigation progressed, the agents were able to verify that there was another branch of the organization based in the province of Malaga. This was responsible for acquiring the narcotic substance in the town of Ayamonte (Huelva), its 'nursery' in Malaga and subsequent transport to Écija (Seville), where the branch located in Seville would take charge of the narcotics, for their preparation and subsequent transport to various European countries.

Thus, in February 2022, a first truck bound for France was intercepted in the province of Granada with 950 kilos of hashish hidden among its legal cargo.

Once this arrest was made, the members of the organization increased security measures, modifying their usual modus operandi.

Later, in October of that same year, another seizure was made of 1,000 kilos of hashish that were travelling hidden in the cargo of another truck intercepted in La Carolina (Jaén).

At this point, and after a pause in the Seville branch due to the two previous arrests, the investigation focused on the Malaga branch. In January 2023, the agents managed to intervene in two vans loaded with hashish, one of them with about 600 kilos intercepted on the A-92 highway near Puebla de Cazalla (Seville), and the other with just over 900 kilos in the town of Pizarra (Málaga).

Records and effects seized

Once all members of the organisation had been identified, the operation was launched on 21 February, with 16 house searches authorised by the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Écija (Seville).

More than one and a half million euros in cash were seized as a result of the searches carried out. Part of this money, 1,085,000 euros, appears hidden in a vehicle that one of the leaders of the organisation had rented in the Seville town of Écija. That same morning, the agents arrested a member of the organization while he was driving on the roads of Malaga. A false bottom was found in the vehicle the detainee was travelling in, containing 136,000 euros.

The agents have also seized three firearms, two of them long and a pistol with a silencer, and 14 vehicles, several of them high-end, as well as numerous documents from the companies used to provide legal cover for the transport of the drugs.

This operation dismantles this criminal organization based in the area of Écija (Seville) and Málaga, with the arrest of 14 of its members, who are charged with crimes against public health, membership of a criminal organization and money laundering. The judge in charge of the investigation has ordered twelve of its members to be sent to prison.