The Civil Guard, in the course of operation 'Jamela' carried out on the island of Tenerife and Lanzarote, has dismantled an active criminal organization dedicated to the introduction of large shipments of hashish from Africa to the Canary Islands, as well as the trafficking of heroin and cocaine. Thus, 19 people have been arrested, seizing 350 kilos of hashish, an inflatable boat, two engines, several drums of fuel and 10,000 euros in cash.
According to Europa Press, six of the arrests have taken place in Lanzarote, where La Voz already reported last August that this operation was being carried out, in which searches had taken place in Arrecife and Tinajo that, until that moment, had resulted in four arrests.
However, the operation began at the end of 2019 when it became aware of a criminal organization based in the northern part of the island of Tenerife dedicated to drug trafficking, with the capacity to acquire, transport, hide and distribute significant amounts of hashish from Morocco.
The head of the organization, based in Tenerife
The investigations allowed to identify each of the people that made up the organization and the functions that each of them performed.
In this way, it was determined that the head of the organization, a man of Moroccan nationality, initially based in El Fraile, was in charge of maintaining contacts with hashish producers in Morocco.
Subsequently, he moved to the island of Lanzarote to personally control the entry of the drug and its subsequent concealment in a safe place.
Also, thanks to the progress of the investigation, it was detected that a part of the criminal organization was based in the towns of El Fraile, Granadilla de Abona and Buenavista del Norte, which took care of the subsequent distribution and sale of narcotics.
This branch of the organization was not only dedicated to the sale of hashish introduced by the Canarian coasts, but independently, they also had their network for the distribution of other substances such as heroin and cocaine.
Operation exploitation
The exploitation of the operation was developed in two different phases, one of them with the purpose of dismantling the part of the organization dedicated to distribution and sale and the other dedicated to the introduction of narcotic substances.
In this way, at the end of May, a first phase of exploitation was organized, aimed at dismantling the network dedicated to the distribution of narcotic substances, during which six house searches were carried out in Granadilla de Abona, Buenavista del Norte and El Fraile, where six people were arrested, five kilos of hashish, material for the preparation of doses and 6,500 euros in cash were seized.
Linked to the aforementioned branch and prior to that date, several unforeseen interventions would have been carried out, in which 32 kilos of hashish, 150 grams of heroin and 21 grams of cocaine had been seized and another seven people were arrested.
Arrests in Lanzarote
On the other hand, during the progress of the investigation, the agents detected how the main investigated of the operation would have moved to the island of Lanzarote to direct 'in situ', the introduction of a shipment of hashish through the use of inflatable boats.
After several months of negotiations with the owner of the narcotic substance in Morocco, due to the difficulties that the organization encountered to get the merchandise out due to the confinement measures due to COVID-19, at the end of July they achieved their purpose introducing a boat on the island of Lanzarote.
Once the shipment of illicit substances was prepared, the organization had an infrastructure in charge of giving entry to the substance and transferring it to a safe place - commonly known as a nursery - until it was released to the market. Once there, it was broken down and taken out in smaller batches.
At the beginning of August, when the organization was preparing to remove a batch of merchandise from the alleged 'nursery', located in the town of Tinajo, they were detected by the agents, who proceeded to the intervention of a vehicle and the arrest of the three occupants, with 30 kilos of hashish.
Following this intervention, four entries and searches were carried out in the towns of Arrecife and Tinajo, where another three people were arrested, the seizure of 270 kilos of hashish, an inflatable boat, two engines, several drums of fuel and 3,000 euros in cash.
The operation has been directed by the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 4 of Granadilla de Abona (Tenerife) and the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and developed by the Territorial Team of the Judicial Police of Playa de las Américas, the Team against Organized Crime and Anti-Drug (EDOA) both of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the Command of the Civil Guard of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and the Team Against Organized Crime of the Canary Islands (ECO-Canarias) of the Central Operational Unit of the Civil Guard.
In addition, it has had the support of various units of the Command of Santa Cruz Tenerife and the Command of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as the Headquarters of the Special Reserve Units, for the practice of the entries and searches carried out.
