Police Seize British Drugs Courier Gang
Police on the Costa del Sol have seized four British drugs kingpins and a haul of nearly a tonne of cannabis in a series of raids.
The Spanish police say the Brits are part of a huge Europe-wide drugs trafficking network.
The gang – investigators said – would dress as delivery couriers to ship packages of the drug all over Europe.
Officers said they confiscated 973 kilogrammes (2,145 lbs) of cannabis and seized 53 kilogrammes (117 lbs) of ecstasy.
The Spanish National Police announced the arrests and released a video of one of the gang as officers searched a property in Malaga.
As the handcuffed suspect looks on, police remove scores of boxes, including bags of cannabis and ecstasy, and can be seen counting up piles of Euro banknotes.
Newsflash obtained a statement from the Spanish National Police saying that they had “seized 937 kilogrammes of hashish and another 53 [kilogrammes] of ecstasy in Malaga by dismantling a network that made shipments to European countries.”
The statement said that they had arrested “four citizens of British origin” in the Malaga province, in the southern Andalucia region.
The four men, who have not been named, are suspected of being part of a drug trafficking network and belonging to a criminal organisation, the authorities said.
The police said they conducted three raids in Marbella and Mijas and had “intercepted several drug shipments at the Madrid-Barajas airport and a correspondence office in the Malaga town of Fuengirola”.
Working with the Civil Guard, the National Police said that the drugs were destined for France and the Netherlands.
The authorities said their investigation – dubbed Operation Milo – began after they seized half a kilogramme (1.1 lb) of cocaine last September.
The sender was later linked to two packages that each contained four kilogrammes of cannabis (8.8 lbs) seized by the Civil Guard at the Madrid-Barajas airport in November.
The National Police and the Civil Guard then led a joint investigation, with the National Police saying: “From that moment, both bodies continued the investigations jointly […].”
The statement added: “The agents found out that, behind the criminal network, there allegedly was a group of British citizens settled on the Malaga coast who were said to be engaged in the acquisition, preparation and distribution of large quantities of narcotic substances destined for European countries, mainly the Netherlands.”
Working with French police, they also seized 91 kilogrammes of an undisclosed substance used to cut cannabis to make it worth more on the street.
The authorities said that the suspects shifted the drugs by road wearing clothes that made them look like deliverymen.
Police also seized five cars, several mobile phones and EUR 1,390 (GBP 1,220) in the raids.
It was unclear at the time of writing if the four suspects had been formally charged.
The investigation is ongoing.
