In a joint operation between the Civil Guard and the Tax Agency, 5,592 kilos of cocaine that were camouflaged in a container from South America have seized in the port of Valencia. This is the largest cocaine seizure in Spain for more than four years, the third intervention in a single container according to CITCO records and the most important in the port of Valencia since records exist.
The development of the research
The actions begin in 2021, as a result of various legal imports into the national territory of fruit and vegetables, taking advantage of the legal trade in this type of merchandise from the other side of the Atlantic that could be used for the transatlantic drug trade. As a result of these investigations, it was possible to intervene in the month of September in the port of Barcelona a piece of merchandise inside which 70 kilos of cocaine were hidden.
Continuing with the investigations, the agents located in the Port of Valencia a container from South America that could be used to introduce drugs. For this reason, the agents proceeded to inspect it, locating more than 5.5 tons of cocaine hidden inside, along with the merchandise whose importation was legal.
Once the drug has been ‘cut’, those more than five tons could have reached a value in the illicit market of more than 340 million euros.
The performances continue
Currently, the investigation is still open, while it is trying to determine, on the one hand, those responsible for the introduction of the narcotic substance and, on the other hand, the people who would later be in charge of the distribution of the drug in our country. country.
The action has been carried out by the EDOA of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of Valencia, officials of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency of Valencia and Madrid and the Risk Analysis Unit (UAR) that make up the ODAIFI of the Guard Civil and the Tax Agency (through the Customs Surveillance Service).
The purpose of this unit is to carry out permanent control and analysis of international merchandise traffic
The Civil Guard, in a joint operation with the National Police and Mossos d’Esquadra, have seized more than 50 tons of marijuana by dismantling eight plantations in two Catalan provinces. The operation has been carried out in four phases, seizing a total of 40 tons in the last two, and 11 tons during the two previous phases. A total of 20 people have been arrested in the four phases in which the investigation was carried out and eight plantations have been dismantled – seven in the province of Barcelona and one in the province of Tarragona.
The so-called operation VIKIN-ALIJO VERDE has consisted of four phases in which a total of eight macro-plantations of marijuana have been dismantled, mostly in the Maresme area, where more than 51 tons of this plant substance have been seized, and A total of 20 people have been arrested for the crimes of fraud of electricity and against public health.
After the first two phases in which a total of 11 tons of narcotic substances were intervened, the third phase of the investigation began after finding documentation in one of the registers, of a commercial company located in the province of Tarragona and which supposedly had relation to the plantations previously dismantled.
Complex orography of the terrain and difficult access
The investigations of the agents made it possible to locate a rustic farm where the plantation would be located, it was located in a remote area with very difficult access, which added to the orography of the land, access to the farm and the security measures adopted by those investigated, It made the investigation very complex. Finally, in September, the farm was entered and searched, where more than 40,000 marijuana plants and 15 tons of buds were located, arresting five people for a crime against public health.
Continuing with the investigations of the criminal network, last October two new marijuana plantations were dismantled, in the municipal area of the Barcelona town of Cabrera de Mar. They were camouflaged, under supposed legal hemp plantations. In this fourth and last phase, more than 13 tons of marijuana have been seized on the farm and four individuals have been arrested for drug trafficking and for fraudulent electricity, as this last plantation has a fraudulent energy supply.
In addition, in this last phase, a greater specialization of crops has been detected, with a high investment in tools and instruments for the cultivation and manufacture of plants, highlighting the existence inside the farm of a bunker-type room, with reinforced walls, to prevent the theft of the narcotic substance and two firearms and two compressed air pistols have been seized.
They pretended to be legal hemp plantations
The common link with regard to the four phases of the investigation is that all the marijuana plantations hide under supposed legal hemp plantations, actually dedicated to the cultivation, collection and distribution of marijuana without the necessary administrative permits for cultivation. legal, camouflaging itself under a mercantile society and locating itself among other ships with legal industrial activity.
The final balance of the investigation is the seizure of 51,904 kilograms of seized marijuana, with more than 187,000 seized marijuana plants and 19 tons of buds.
In addition, a total of two firearms, four compressed air weapons and a knife have been seized and a multitude of computer equipment and innumerable tools for the cultivation and manufacture of the vegetable substance have been seized, highlighting more than 3,000 growth lamps, humidifiers and sophisticated harvesting machines among others. A total of 20 detainees have been arrested for crimes against public health and electricity fraud.
