Civil Guard, National Police and Tax Agency dismantle a criminal organization that introduced large amounts of cocaine into the Canary Islands
After twelve months of investigation, 39 people have been arrested in the provinces of Pontevedra, Orense, Zaragoza, Toledo, Madrid, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
A total of 18 simultaneous searches have been carried out in different parts of the national geography, in which 111 kilograms of cocaine, another of MDMA and several weapons have been intervened
The organization used postal parcels and human “mules” for the introduction of cocaine
Civil Guard, National Police and Tax Agency, within the framework of the PARCE / CRISAL operation and after more than a year of investigation, have managed to completely dismantle an important criminal network, based in Madrid, dedicated to drug trafficking, mainly cocaine , between the peninsula and the Canary Islands through postal parcel.
The operation begins in the spring of last year when Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency in the Canary Islands detain a man in Tenerife, when he intended to receive a shipment by postal parcel containing 15 kg. of cocaine and 1 kg. of MDMA.
Use of "mules"
As a result of the operational coordination of the three organizations, it is discovered, after this frustrated shipment, the existence of a complex criminal network with several years of activity, aimed at the introduction of important camouflaged cocaine items in legal parcel shipments destined for the Canary Islands .
As a result of the police apprehension of the 15 kg of cocaine camouflaged inside a package, the organization was forced to look for other ways of introduction and distribution of narcotics to the Canary Islands, then opting for the delivery of narcotics through the known like "mules", human mails on domestic flights.
Again the result of police work, this new method of sending drugs to the Canary Islands was detected, carrying out a series of consecutive actions that resulted in the arrest of 12 “mules” and the seizure of 9 kg of cocaine.
"The Black"
Continuing with the investigation, the person who from Madrid was directing under his orders to the investigated criminal apparatus, the Colombian TPM, alias “La Negra”, a history of drug trafficking in Spain related to the entry of tons of cocaine into our country during years who, in turn, had the collaboration of a "family clan" located in Seseña (Toledo); a very hermetic and hierarchical nucleus, composed of six members of the same family, all of them Colombians.
Police dismantled the “mule network”, the organization takes up the original method of sending camouflaged drugs in parcels, this purpose being truncated again by researchers when they detected and intercepted last summer, a shipment to the Canary Islands consisting of a refrigerator that concealed 38 kg of cocaine inside.
"Clans Gallegos" alternative
The numerous shipments of cocaine intervened up to that time, caused great economic losses to the organization, whose debts exceeded three million euros in addition to the consequent constraint of the Colombian drug suppliers, which led the criminal group to seek new alternatives to continue with this lucrative activity, finding a new supply route in Galicia.
It is there where they established contact with Galician drug traffickers, with the idea of preparing a new shipment of cocaine by sea in container from South America, confirming by the agents that while negotiating this “import”, they began again the acquisition of small items of cocaine to maintain its status and get money for financing.
However, this claim was again annulled by the researchers when acting on two mules that transported cocaine from Pontevedra by road, one being arrested in Zaragoza, with 1 kg and another in Orense, with another 10 kg of the same substance.
To emphasize that to do these new businesses, the members of the organization did their interviews in the emergency rooms of a hospital posing as patients and thus avoid being detected when they did the drug exchanges.
Operation exploitation
At this point we proceeded to the operational exploitation phase of the investigation in which, at the same time, a total of 18 domiciliary records were carried out in the provinces of Pontevedra, Madrid, Toledo, Guadalajara, Lanzarote and Tenerife, which allowed the arrest of 23 people who are charged with the crimes of belonging to criminal organization, money laundering, drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, all coordinated by the Court of Instruction No. 3 of La Laguna and the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Overall, the operation closes with 39 detainees, including 31 Colombians, 5 Spaniards, 2 Venezuelans and 1 Brazilian, in addition to the intervention of 73 kg of cocaine and 1 kg of Mdma; € 150,000 in cash, 3 long weapons, 2 short weapons; embargoes on 4 buildings, 41 vehicles and 70 banking products, in addition, this organization is linked to another important shipment of drugs aborted months before by the Civil Guard, when they arrested a male of South American origin trying to introduce 38 kilograms of cocaine into the Canary Islands .
