Agents of the Command of the Civil Guard of Madrid and of the Provincial Brigade of the Judicial Police of the National Police have dismantled a criminal group that introduced "significant amounts" of cocaine into the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport.
The organization recruited young women to send the cash they obtained from the sale of the drugs to the island of Lanzarote. Once the money arrived on the Canary Island, another person sent the money to banks that were based outside the European Union.
Within the framework of this Ghost Air operation, a total of ten people have been arrested. The Civil Guard has reported that the detainees disguised themselves as police officers to go unnoticed and thus collect shipments of narcotic substances from Latin America.
Both police forces seized 190 kilograms of cocaine at the Madrid airport, which were hidden in "several shipments of suitcases."
According to the Civil Guard, the criminal group allegedly recruited economically vulnerable people and offered them significant financial benefits to transport the drugs. In addition to recruiting women to send the money to Lanzarote.
A detention that uncovered the case
The investigation began in April 2024, when Civil Guard agents arrested a man carrying two suitcases with up to 52 kilograms of cocaine. The suitcases had landed in the Spanish capital from a flight from the Dominican Republic. However, to the surprise of the agents, the suspect did not travel from the American country, but entered the aerodrome with the intention of taking a flight to Bilbao.
The investigations initiated by the Civil Guard converged with another investigation that was being carried out at that time by the Provincial Brigade of the Judicial Police of the National Police of Madrid on the same investigated. For this reason, both investigations were unified.
As a result of this first arrest, the National Police and the Civil Guard discovered the modus operandi, which consisted of one of the members of the organization buying a low-cost ticket to access the terminal. Then, he passed the security check and was guided by someone who appeared to work for a police force to the baggage claim belt. Once on the belt, they collected the suitcases with the drugs and left Barajas.
In total, up to seven shipments of cocaine were detected from Latin America to Barajas and five people were arrested who were in charge of removing the drugs.
Likewise, the group also recruited young women in Madrid to transport the cash from these illicit activities on flights to the Island of Lanzarote. From there, together with another collaborator of the criminal group, they transported the money to banks located in countries outside the European Union.
As a result of the investigations carried out, in November of last year, the five members of the group, four men and one woman, were arrested, who were charged with crimes against public health (drug trafficking), money laundering and belonging to a criminal group.
In addition, the competent judicial authority authorized the carrying out of three home searches, one in Torrejón de Ardoz, another in San Sebastián de los Reyes and a third in Lanzarote, in which 150,000 euros in cash, a simulated short weapon, various documentation related to the investigation, a cryptocurrency "wallet", telephone terminals, as well as the vest and a wallet with a badge that one of the accused used to identify himself as a judicial expert were seized.
The operation has been directed by the Investigating Court No. 31 and the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of Madrid.