National Police agents have foiled a spectacular escape plan of a drug trafficker held in the Salto del Negro prison, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, to whom a four-meter remote-controlled zeppelin with night vision equipment and climbing gear was to be sent so that he could leave the prison.
According to data provided this Friday by the National Police Force, which has had the collaboration of the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions, the operation has made it possible to dismantle the support group for that escape, made up of three people. The detainee was serving a sentence for piloting a seaplane with 200 kilos of 'coke'.
Agents learned last February that several people could be preparing the escape of Giulio B., 51, linked to an international organization dedicated to the introduction and distribution in Spain of large quantities of narcotics. The drug trafficker had been arrested while piloting a seaplane from Mauritania loaded with 200 kilograms of cocaine and is currently being held in the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria penitentiary.
The first investigations, the police note indicates, made it possible to identify the support team that the inmate had outside prison to develop the plan and carry out the escape. The agents discovered that the group had sent a package from Bergamo (Italy) with the necessary instruments for the escape.
The strategy consisted of using a four-meter-long zeppelin by radio control, in order to introduce a night viewer, climbing equipment and camouflage paint into Giulio B.'s cell. Once in his possession, he would move to the highest point of the prison to access a specific point, previously designated and without surveillance, and climb down to the outside of the center.
At that moment, the police add, a driver would pick him up and they would move to a foreign country, where they would take refuge while waiting to obtain falsified documentation and continue managing shipments of narcotics to our country.
COUNTER-SURVEILLANCE
In this way, "the agents verified the technical expertise with which the support group acted", explains the police note, which adds that one of its members carried out counter-surveillance work on the prison officials of the Salto del Negro penitentiary center.
The observation point chosen was a mountain about 600 meters away from the prison. From there, in a camouflaged tent, he analyzed the security measures and the watchtowers thanks to the use of binoculars and a wide-angle telephoto lens. He had even installed motion sensors around his position to detect the possible presence of anyone who could discover him.
The investigators then decided to launch the operation to thwart the escape attempt. In this way, in addition to the arrests, it was possible to intercept the package sent from Italy and several home searches were carried out in which, among other effects, the tent, the wide-angle telescope, and even handwritten letters sent by Giulio B. with plans of the prison.
The operation has been developed by agents of the Greco de Canarias and Levante of the General Police Station of the Judicial Police, who have had the collaboration of the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions.
ACN Press
