Eight people, two of them residents in Lanzarote, have been sentenced to prison terms of between 3 and 18 years, as members of a network dedicated to introducing and selling hashish and cocaine on the islands. The sentence handed down by the National Court considers that all of them are perpetrators of different crimes against public health and, in addition, sentences one of them for illegal possession of weapons and another for attacking an agent of the authority, since when he was going to be arrested in Malaga he tried to flee and ran over a civil guard.
The investigation that made it possible to dismantle this organized gang began in September 2009 in Tenerife, when an "increase in cocaine consumption" was noticed in the north of that island. The investigations by the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug team of the Civil Guard of Tenerife led them to a woman, and they verified that she had "a high standard of living inappropriate" for the thousand euros a month she earned with her work.
Both she and her partner, who also had no income to justify it, spent significant sums of money, including on travel, and had high-end vehicles. When the corresponding Court authorized the investigation into these two people, the agents ended up detecting another network that operated in the south of the island, and which is the one that has now been convicted.
In addition to the eight people who have been tried in this case, the gang had more members who are still awaiting to answer to Justice, some of them for being in a situation of "rebellion".
Two arrests in Lanzarote
Of the detainees who lived in Lanzarote, one of them is a native of Melilla but had resided on the island for some time. The sentence considers it proven that his role was to sell the drugs that this network brought to Lanzarote, with which he was in permanent contact. Like two other convicts, the Court imposes a sentence of 11 years in prison, as well as two fines of 150,000 euros each. In his case, his arrest did not occur in Lanzarote, since when he learned that they had begun to arrest other colleagues, "he took refuge in his mother's house in Melilla".
As for the other detainee in Lanzarote, he is a native of Uruguay but resided in the municipality of Tinajo. His appearance in this network occurred when the Civil Guard was already tracking the gang. Specifically, he participated in an operation to introduce two and a half tons of cocaine from Colombia into the islands.
The drugs arrived by boat and they had to go get them at a point in the middle of the ocean, for which they bought a sailboat for more than 100,000 euros. One of the usual members of the gang was going to travel on board, but they also needed someone with nautical knowledge, so they added this new person to the operation. However, they did not achieve their objective and in June 2010, they were arrested when they were with the drugs already on the sailboat.
In his defense, the resident of Tinajo alleged that he did not know what was on the boat, but the Court responds in its sentence that "a person who is not of absolute trust is not hired for a shipment worth more than 60 million euros." In addition, he emphasizes that what he was going to charge (about 200,000 euros, in addition to keeping the sailboat that they had bought for the operation), is "exorbitant" and "evidence" that he did know what the cargo was. For all this, he imposes a sentence of 9 years in prison and two fines of 150,000 euros.
The ringleaders
The ringleaders of the network coordinated the operations from Almería, where they usually resided, although with frequent trips to the Canary Islands. Both had already been in prison, where they established a relationship with another trafficker, with whom they also began to operate after leaving prison.
They usually dedicated themselves to the introduction and sale of hashish from Morocco, but at the beginning of 2010 they decided to "expand the business" and also dedicate themselves to cocaine trafficking. However, their intention was frustrated when the Civil Guard intercepted that sailboat in which they were carrying two and a half tons of cocaine.
In addition to this operation, the sentence considers at least two others proven and accredited. One of them, the introduction of almost 1,200 kilos of hashish from Morocco by sea. The other, the shipment of 44 kilos of hashish from Lanzarote to Tenerife.
For this shipment they used a regular maritime transport line between both islands. The drugs traveled inside a vehicle that they bought and conditioned, creating "some secret rooms". According to the sentence, in the upholstery of the two front doors and the wheel covers they had hidden 195 tablets of hashish (44 kilos) that would have had a market value of 64,804 euros". For this operation they had "hired" a driver who was traveling with his wife, but in this case the drugs did not reach their destination either, since they were also intercepted.
Illegal possession of weapons
Among those convicted, the maximum penalty has been imposed on one of the ringleaders, sentenced to 16 years in prison for crimes against public health and another two years in prison for illegal possession of weapons. The other alleged ringleader is still awaiting trial.
The next most serious penalty is for another of the gang members, who in addition to serving 11 years in prison for crimes against public health, has also been sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison for attacking the agents of the authority, as well as to compensate the civil guard he ran over.
In addition to significant amounts of drugs, the agents also seized several vehicles, two of them Mercedes, as well as zodiac boats and a sailboat. All of them, as well as the money seized, have been awarded to the State in this sentence.
