The Civil Guard dismantles a criminal network dedicated to drug trafficking between the peninsula and the Canary Islands
10 people have been arrested in the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas, Cádiz and Málaga
The organization had a consolidated logistic structure that allowed them to carry out the transports continuously and repeatedly, remaining inactive only during the most restrictive phases of the state of alarm
75 kilos of cocaine, 400,000 euros in cash, jewelry, luxury watches, firearms, sonic suppressors, ammunition, false documentation, material for the packaging / sealing of narcotics and numerous vehicles have been seized
The Civil Guard, within the framework of the ORNITORRINCO operation, has dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to the transport of large quantities of cocaine from the peninsula to the Canary Islands. For this, vehicles equipped with "coves" (double bottoms) boarded the ships of the commercial passenger shipping companies that unite both territories.
10 people have been arrested in the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas, Cádiz and Malaga.
The operation began last May when the agents learned of the existence of an organization, which, based in the Canary Islands and in the south of the peninsula, would be introducing, since at least 2019, large quantities of cocaine in the archipelago canary continuously.
At first, the researchers carried out an exhaustive analysis of the information available to them, proving that the members of the group, since at least 2019, had made numerous and continuous trips on the ships of the shipping companies that departed from the ports of Huelva and Cádiz bound for the Canary Islands, mainly Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The organization had a consolidated logistical structure, having numerous vehicles, mostly vans, and several regular drivers who changed and gave vehicles to each other to, in addition to increasing the number of journeys, hindering the police investigation. In this way, it also allowed them to carry out the transports continuously and repeatedly, remaining inactive only during the most restrictive phases of the state of alarm.
Modus operandi
As a result of the investigations, the agents detected that members of the organization were acquiring vehicles, such as vans, that with a load, sometimes a jet ski, to try to divert the agents' attention in the routine controls that are carried out at the entrance and exit From the ports, they were embarked on the commercial shipping companies that make the journey between the islands and the peninsula.
Once on the peninsula, the vehicle was driven by a member of the organization to the Malaga town of Marbella, where after contacting the drug suppliers (who were father and son) they hid the drug in double funds set up in the vehicles, doing the reverse route to return to the islands.
With this modus operandi, two vans were intervened, one in May upon arrival at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which was carrying 37 kilos of cocaine hidden inside the fuel depot, and another in June. On this occasion, it was upon arrival at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria where 19 kilos of the same drug were intervened.
Once the investigators had accredited the network's modus operandi and identified the members that comprise it and the participation of each one of them, at the end of June the operation in which it was arrested was exploited. 10 people, 2 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 4 in Barbate (Cádiz) and 2 in Marbella (Málaga).
Similarly, 9 records were made, 3 in Marbella (Málaga), 1 in Algeciras, 1 in La Línea de la Concepción and 2 in Barbate, in the province of Cádiz, 1 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and 1 in Santa Lucia de Tirajana (Las Palms).
In the searches carried out, 400,000 euros in cash, firearms, silencers, ammunition, falsified documentation, luxury jewelery and watches, elements for packaging and sealing cocaine packages, computer material, documentation and various vehicles, some of them of high-end.
During the search of one of the vehicles used by the leader of the organization, another 19 kilos of cocaine were found hidden in a double bottom practiced in the trunk, which were ready to be transferred to the Canary Islands in the near future.
The operation, directed by the Court of Instruction No. 2 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and coordinated by the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of Tenerife, has been carried out by agents belonging to the Team against Organized Crime (ECO) of the Central Operational Unit of the Civil Guard, based in the Canary Islands, together with members of the Center for Concentration Against Drug Trafficking (CCON Sur), the Drug Trafficking Coordination Agency (OCON Sur) and the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) of the Malaga Command. Likewise, during the exploitation phase of the operation they have been supported by various units of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Malaga, Algeciras and Cádiz Commanderies, and by the Rapid Action Group (GAR).
