IMAGES: Provided by the Civil Guard
The Civil Guard has arrested a total of seven agents of the Benemérita on the island of Fuerteventura, five of whom are in provisional prison and two others have been released on charges, within the framework of operation "Botavara", which investigates a possible crime of drug trafficking. In addition, it has also charged two other civil guards and has arrested another 12 civilians, two of whom are in pre-trial detention.
The Civil Guard has seized in this operation just under 1,000 kilos of hashish, in addition to vehicles, computer equipment, mobile phones and various documentation of interest to the investigation. "The ringleaders of the organization took advantage of the impunity conferred on them by wearing the Civil Guard uniform, staining the honor of the professionals who belong to this Benemérito Institute," the Civil Guard said in a statement.
The arrests have been carried out in Fuerteventura, since February 21. The investigations, however, began at the end of last year, "after becoming aware of the criminal activity that could be taking place, initially in Lanzarote, by a group of civil guards assigned to the post of Corralejo, Fuerteventura". Hence the investigations are being directed by the Investigating Court Number 2 of Arrecife, since at first the Civil Guard worked with the hypothesis that it could be on this island where these alleged drug trafficking crimes were being committed.
Finally, and after establishing a surveillance and control device, "it was possible to identify the civil guards, who were organized in a pyramidal way, in which each one had fully established competences, being led by a ringleader".
The investigations, in several phases
These investigations have been carried out in several phases. After the heads of the Civil Guard in Las Palmas detected possible irregularities in the behavior and service of certain agents of the post of Corralejo, the start of a joint operation of different specialties and units of the body was ordered, including the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police and the Information Group, supported by the Central Operative Unit and the Internal Affairs Service.
At that time, as explained by the Civil Guard in a statement, the judicialization of the proceedings in the Court of Arrecife was initiated, since the main hypothesis with which they were working "was that of the future commission of an illegal criminal act, related to drug trafficking on the island of Lanzarote".
After months of investigations, operational work and analysis of information, the Civil Guard managed to identify certain components of the Corralejo post, who "could be part of an organized criminal group, which, taking advantage of their knowledge of police work in the area, could participate in the introduction of boats with hashish in the islands".
Thus, in the early morning of February 20, the Civil Guard detected the arrival of a boat "loaded with hashish", which "ran aground on the coast of Cotillo, north of Fuerteventura". The next day in the afternoon, five civil guards "involved in the events were arrested, two of them while transporting part of the disembarked drug". In addition, in the following hours another five civilians were arrested, also related to the landing of the drug.
Subsequently, the Civil Guard maintained the investigations, which led to new arrests. Finally, in this operation there were a total of 21 detainees, with 20 charged with different crimes. Of these, nine are civil guards.
Although the investigations focused on illicit activities related to drug trafficking, "the existence of other illicit acts was confirmed of which there was already news and, even, new ones appeared", related to the civil guards charged in this operation, according to the Benemérita in a statement.
