Dismantled an international criminal group that introduced large amounts of drugs hidden in concrete blocks

This novel modus operandi made the narcotic substance undetectable before port controls

The organization, based in Spain and the Netherlands, and linked to the Mexican Beltrán Leyva cartel, has had the largest amount of “meth crystal” intervened in the history of an operation carried out in the Netherlands

The operation, carried out in Barcelona, ​​Tarragona, Talavera de la Reina and Valencia, as well as in the Netherlands and Turkey, has concluded with the arrest of 16 people and the dismantling of the main route of introduction of these substances into Europe through from the Port of Barcelona

Agents of the Civil Guard, in a joint operation with the National Police, the Tax Agency and EUROPOL, have dismantled an international criminal organization based in Spain and the Netherlands, and linked to the Mexican cartel of the Beltrán Leyva, allegedly dedicated to the introduction of cocaine and methamphetamine into Europe through the Port of Barcelona.

With this operation, whose investigation has lasted over three years, the largest intervention in the history of crystal meth has been achieved, with the apprehension of a total of 2,549 kilograms of methamphetamine, 1,370 kilograms of cocaine and 17,000 liters of products. chemicals for the production of narcotic drugs. The operation, carried out in Barcelona, ​​Tarragona, the Toledo town of Talavera de la Reina and Valencia, as well as in the Netherlands and Turkey, has concluded with the arrest of 16 people.

With this police intervention, the main route of introduction into Europe of these narcotic substances through the Port of Barcelona is considered dismantled. Those responsible controlled a novel way to introduce the drug, which consisted of creating hidden rooms in concrete blocks, making it undetectable before port controls.

First phase: investigation begins in 2017

The investigations began in 2017 as a result of the flows of information and national and international police cooperation on an export company suspected of being used by Mexican cartels in the introduction of huge quantities of narcotics in the European continent. In this way, the agents began to monitor a Mexican merchant that could be introducing significant amounts of narcotic substance into Europe through Spain.

This company, located in Mexico, would be at the disposal of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, who, using prefabricated concrete thermal blocks intended for construction, hid the drug inside. In this way, they took advantage of the infrastructure of their international trade operations, coming from South and Central America, to take over the European market for narcotic substances.

The investigations suggested that the Mexican cartels were trying to "break" or "flood" the European market with the famous narcotic substance known as crystal meth or methamphetamine. Taking advantage of the historical cocaine routes that they dominated, they were folding into a new incipient market in Europe with this new substance that they themselves elaborated in the jungle areas of Mexico.

As a result of the coordination of the police agencies, it was learned that in 2019, the Netherlands Police intervened in a warehouse in Rotterdam a total of 2,500 kilograms of pure methamphetamine (“crystal meth”). Continuing with the investigation, it was possible to detect a warehouse in the town of Utrecht, where a total of 17,000 liters of chemical products for the production of narcotics were stored. These substances came from a company based in Spain and in charge of introducing the drug on behalf of the Mexican cartel.

His method of concealment was practically foolproof. For this, they used blocks of cellular thermal concrete, to which they made a hidden compartment inside, thus being undetectable for all kinds of border controls given the firmness and material of the product. In this context, the Civil Guard, National Police and Customs Surveillance joined forces to control the movements of the company responsible for these items, based in Mexico and Barcelona, ​​and which used the port of the city for its commercial activities. All this was coordinated by a citizen with Spanish and Mexican nationality living in Spain and who was also the main person in charge of the Mexican cartel in our country.

Once all the evidence had been grouped with the support of the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National High Court, a detailed investigation was carried out on the importing company and its movements in Spain in order, in coordination with the Dutch authorities, to carry out an action joint effort that would allow the identification of all the actors involved in this international drug trafficking operation and its complete dismantling.

It was detected how the exporting company at the service of the Mexican drug cartels, taking advantage of the existing health situation due to the health crisis, and believing that the Spanish police services dedicated to the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking would reduce their efforts, materialized the shipment of two new containers to the Port of Barcelona, ​​where the State Security Forces and Bodies detected their entry and proceeded to inspect them.

Thus, after leaving the merchant port, they were subjected to a discreet follow-up by the agents until they reached an industrial warehouse in the Barcelona town of Sant Boi de Llobregat, where they were subjected to inspection. There the agents verified, after drilling on them, that a narcotic substance was hidden inside, finding a total of 834 kilograms of cocaine and ten kilograms of methamphetamine on twelve pallets of the 36 transported.

Second phase: new container shipping

Continuing with the investigation efforts, a new shipment of maritime containers destined for Barcelona was detected, for which a strict and permanent control was established over them in order to identify other people or companies that could be involved in their release, customs clearance and corresponding reception.

Finally, the acting units proceeded to open the two new maritime containers in the port area, which left Mexico. Inside, the same thermal concrete blocks were found, packed with the same blue ribbon and the same corporate logo of the Mexican company. Once an inspection of their content was carried out, it was found that inside several of them there were multiple packages with narcotic substances hidden inside, which, once weighed, threw the amount of 536 kilograms of cocaine.

This methodology of concealment inside the concrete blocks demonstrated, once again, the high technical capacity of the Mexican cartel responsible for the introduction of the drug in Spain, this method being undetectable in port controls and requiring great complexity and technical sophistication. to introduce the drug inside in the moments prior to the manufacture of the concrete blocks.

The conclusion of this second phase allowed the Civil Guard, National Police, Customs Surveillance and the Police of the Netherlands to deepen their knowledge of those responsible for the introduction of the narcotic substance, as well as other people who may be involved in this operation, allowing the dismantling of a drug entry route for the Mexican cartels and achieving the final apprehension of 1,370 kilograms of cocaine and 2,536 kilograms of methamphetamine.

Third phase: internationalization of print runs and attendance at registrations

Subsequently, the police forces of Spain and the Netherlands began to join forces in a coordinated manner with EUROPOL to completely dismantle the organization. It remained to dismantle the upper part of the criminal organization, which would have taken refuge in the Netherlands, where it continued to control its investments and money laundering from drug trafficking.

Said action would be motivated by the objective of hitting the criminal organization, which kept all its properties and profits intact in other countries. Agents of the Civil Guard and the National Police traveled to the Netherlands to support the Dutch agents in the searches. Similarly, Dutch agents traveled to Spain. Thus, twelve searches were carried out simultaneously in both countries, proceeding to the arrest of eight people, one of them in Spain and seven in the Netherlands.

The final results of this exploitation allowed the intervention and seizure of three luxury properties in the Netherlands, the blocking and intervention of nine bank accounts and a total of eight high-end vehicles.

Fourth phase: money laundering in Spain

At this point in the operation, the only thing pending was to determine the money laundering structure that the criminal organization had in Spain, having proven the existence of numerous bank movements with origin or destination in Mexico for high amounts, which were received by the members. of the Beltrán Leyva cartel. This remittance of funds was carried out through the collaboration of Spanish businessmen based in Talavera de la Reina and Valencia, who had designed a complex business network to launder the funds obtained through drug trafficking.

On the one hand, the reception of thermal concrete blocks that were exported from Mexico was legitimized. Once in Spain, the companies in charge of receiving them were, in turn, those in charge of releasing those concrete blocks that did not contain narcotic substances, contacting construction companies for this. This work was extremely difficult for them because it is not a construction material widely used in Spanish buildings.

These businessmen were also in charge of providing coverage to the organization by renting properties to store those blocks, mainly those that did not contain a narcotic substance inside. In this way, they unlinked their laundering structure with drug trafficking, so that in the event that they were intervened by the State Security Forces and Bodies, their financial assets and economic flows could not be linked to the illegitimate activity carried out. for the Mexican cartel.

For this reason, in Madrid and Toledo large quantities of concrete blocks that the organization had stored were located, and they were likewise inspected. These were shipments that were made without narcotic substances, in order to create safe import channels.

On the other hand, the money laundering investigation revealed the masking of large amounts of money from the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, which were transferred to Mexico using the bank accounts of Spanish companies. These funds, which in all probability were the product of drug trafficking, were entered into the bank accounts of the investigated companies and entered into the Spanish financial system with destination Mexico, without having been able to conclude their commercial origin.

Once the investigation was concluded, the operation related to the arrest of these people was ordered and three entry and search procedures were carried out in which a large number of incriminating documents and various electronic effects were intervened, as well as four long firearms. The two investigated were arrested.

Six arrested for throwing drug packages over the Melilla fence

The "dump" method is being the most used by traffickers since the closure of the border crossings.

In the last month, the Civil Guard has seized more than 25 kilos of drugs that had been thrown at the border

The Civil Guard has arrested six people for passing drug packages through the border fence of Melilla. In total, the Civil Guard has discovered more than 25 kilos of hashish-type drugs that had been released for sale in Spain.

Since the closure of the border crossings has been decreed, the method known as “volteo” is being the most used by drug traffickers. Specifically, during the last month, the Civil Guard has carried out 24 interventions related to drug trafficking through the volteos.

The last of these seizures took place on the 30th when two young men tried to collect up to 12 packages of drugs in the vicinity of the so-called Chinatown.

These two people were arrested after being discovered hiding in the grove while waiting to collect the packages on Spanish territory. The performance culminated with the intervention of the twelve packages launched from Moroccan territory, which contained a total of 7,844 grams of hashish, in the form of acorns.

For more information, you can contact the Peripheral Communication Office of the Civil Guard in Melilla, at 626 286 379.

The Civil Guard clarifies the authorship of two crimes of animal abuse

During the investigations, the corpses of two dead dog puppies that belonged to the kennel of an individual were discovered.

The author sentenced to imprisonment for both crimes

The Civil Guard, within the framework of the TXAKUR operation, has detained a person for two crimes of animal abuse in Álava.

The corpses of the two English Setter puppies were found in a pine forest area near the town of Vírgala Mayor (Álava). After the warning and first inquiries from a Forestry Agent of the Department of the Environment of the Provincial Council of Álava, the two bodies were transferred to the Agricultural Laboratory of the Provincial Council.

In later days, a farm with animals belonging to an individual was located, who had two dogs that had recently given birth to a litter of puppies, whose physical characteristics coincided with the puppies found dead. The Civil Guard agents took DNA samples from each female for later analysis and collation in the Environment Department of the Civil Guard Criminalistics Service.

Subsequently, the SEPRONA agents of the Civil Guard transferred the bodies to the Valencia Institute of Legal Medicine to carry out a necropsy and collect samples for a genetic identification (DNA) analysis. The result revealed the maternal and filial compatibility between one of the dogs owned by the condemned man and the dead puppies.

Likewise, after the necropsy of the corpses and the evaluation of the report, carried out by the Technical Unit of SEPRONA, the cause of death of both dogs was certified: head trauma with a blunt object.

The Civil Guard has been using DNA extraction techniques in its investigations for years, a key tool at the moment to find relationships between species and, as in this case, to identify the perpetrators of crimes of animal abuse.

Prison sentences

Given the events that occurred, the Álava Environmental Prosecutor's Office requested, for each of the crimes, the penalty of 12 months in prison, with special disqualification for the exercise of profession, trade or trade related to animals and for the keeping of animals for a period of one year.

The Court of Instruction No. 2 of Vitoria, sentenced the author of the animal abuse to 16 months in prison, 8 for each of the crimes committed. The Judicial Authority, in its sentence, has therefore independently condemned the crimes committed against each of the puppies, which is increasingly common in courts in different parts of Spain.

Abandonment and Animal Abuse

In recent years there has been an extraordinary evolution in the protection and defense of animals and the conditions necessary for their well-being, which has been accompanied by extensive regulatory development, necessary in the fight against real mafias and criminal organizations behind them. behaviors.

On a day when World Animal Rights Day is commemorated, from the Civil Guard, the importance of animals in the life of man is valued and not only from a social point of view, through the pets, but the fundamental role they play in balancing ecosystems on the planet. It is therefore a fundamental task of all to respect them, preserve the habitats in which they live in freedom and take care of those that we are in charge of.

So far this year the Civil Guard has detected 228 crimes of animal abandonment with 103 detained and investigated and 832 detained and investigated for animal abuse with 486 detained and investigated. The administrative offenses related to the regulations on companion animals amount to 13068.

Collaborations

The investigation, coordinated by the Delegate Section of the Álava Environmental Prosecutor's Office, has been directed by SEPRONA agents of the Civil Guard and has had the fundamental collaboration of the Álava Forest Agents.

For more information, you can contact the SEPRONA Press Office at 608.251.069.

The Civil Guard dismantles a criminal network that has seized about 6 tons of hashish

In the PÓLVORA operation, 40 people have been arrested and 17,250 packs of tobacco have been seized, 25 vehicles, many of high-end, of which 21 have been recovered after being stolen

In one of the searches, 50,000 euros in cash was found in the school bag of the daughter, a minor, of one of the detainees

The Civil Guard, within the framework of the PÓLVORA operation, has dismantled a criminal organization that introduced large amounts of hashish on the coasts of Malaga and Cádiz. 40 people have been arrested and 5,770 kilos of hashish have been seized, as well as 17,250 packs of tobacco, 25 vehicles, many high-end, of which 21 have been recovered after being stolen. In addition, 268,000 euros, 2 short weapons and a shotgun, as well as a drone, communication material and abundant documentation have also been intervened.

Small boats to transport drugs to the coast

They alternated caches of hashish and smuggled tobacco