The Civil Guard discovers a new route for introducing drugs from North Africa

More than a ton and a half of hashish passed through Lanzarote and was intercepted when it was trying to leave Fuerteventura, bound for the peninsula, hidden under a sophisticated false bottom fitted in a tanker truck.

January 26 2022 (09:48 WET)
Updated in January 26 2022 (11:09 WET)
Operation Aristarchus

The Civil Guard has completed operation 'Aristarco', with the dismantling of an experienced criminal group, whose six members have been arrested as alleged perpetrators of crimes against public health, for drug trafficking and membership of a criminal organization. As a result of this investigation, the Civil Guard has uncovered a new route for the introduction of drugs into peninsular territory, established through the Canary archipelago.

The investigation began last August, when Civil Guard agents from Murcia learned that a well-known criminal, a resident of the Murcian municipality of Las Torres de Cotillas, had bought an old tanker semi-trailer.

His criminal record raised suspicions that the vehicle could be used to transport drugs. The civil guards found out that he had also rented a tractor unit, with financing from a Alicante-based company, and that the process had begun to transfer the semi-trailer to the Canary Islands, in principle, without any commercial interest.

 

A load of molasses to justify transport

The surveillance of this vehicle led the civil guards to the Granada municipality of Motril, where they detected how it was loaded with a symbolic amount of sugar cane molasses, of those used as organic fertilizer, and then continue its route to island territory.

In view of its imminent departure, agents from the Civil Guard Commands of Murcia and Las Palmas coordinated police devices to carry out surveillance and investigation of the truck's movements from its arrival at port.

Making the sea route with a stop on the island of Lanzarote, the truck arrived on the island of Fuerteventura, where several individuals were already waiting for it, one of whom was recognized by the agents as an experienced criminal, also a resident of Las Torres de Cotillas, specialized in the manufacture of false bottoms in all types of vehicles.

The investigations carried out on this suspect revealed that, in addition, under the guise of a fruit and vegetable products company, he had established a 'shell' company on the island to provide legal cover for drug shipments.

After several hours of interview with his island colleagues, the driver, supposedly instructed by them, drove to a ravine where he dumped the molasses load to go, then, to an industrial warehouse located in Antigua.

The next day, the truck began its route to leave the islands, protected under a supposed legal shipment chartered by the aforementioned fruit and vegetable company, while the agents followed its steps.

 

Intercepted when he was trying to leave Fuerteventura

The interception and examination of the vehicle culminated with the location of 1,600 kilos of hashish, from North Africa, hidden under a sophisticated high-capacity false bottom, clandestinely enabled inside. Subsequently, searches were carried out in the municipalities of Antigua on the island of Fuerteventura (Las Palmas), Las Torres de Cotillas (Murcia) and in the Alicante municipalities of Orihuela and El Pilar de la Horadada, where abundant documentation and material related to the investigated illicit activities were seized.

According to the investigation, it is a criminal organization, led by two businessmen from the Alicante transport sector, who had the collaboration of two experienced drug traffickers. Taking advantage of this geographical proximity, they established a platform with which to carry out the shipment of drugs from Morocco to the peninsula, making a stopover in the Canary Islands. It is suspected that some of the drug shipments were destined for other countries in the community environment.

With the arrest of its six members - five of them Spanish and one Albanian - as alleged perpetrators of crimes against public health, for drug trafficking, and membership of a criminal organization, the Civil Guard considers this criminal organization dismantled.

Operation 'Aristarco' has made it possible to unmask a novel route for the introduction of drugs into national territory, using a strategic point, due to its proximity to the Moroccan coasts, such as the Canary archipelago.

The detainees, the drugs, the semi-trailer and the rest of the seized effects, as well as the proceedings instructed have been made available to the Investigating Court number 2 of Molina de Segura (Murcia).

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