The Civil Guard, in the so-called "Miami" operation carried out on the island of Lanzarote, has dismantled an important criminal organization dedicated to transporting, using its own boats, large quantities of cocaine from South America, as La Voz reported this Saturday. The drug was introduced into the Canary archipelago, for subsequent distribution in the archipelago itself and in the Iberian Peninsula.
In the operation, 6 people have been arrested and 470 kilos of cocaine have been seized, in addition, a sailboat and a fiber boat with several high-powered engines have been seized. Three home searches have also been carried out in which a large amount of documentation and sophisticated electronic means of communication and navigation have been seized. The seized drug would have reached an estimated value of approximately 17,000,000 euros on the black market
The investigations began in February of this year, when the Civil Guard detected a person who acquired a sailboat and a boat with two high-powered engines.
Subsequently, they identified 2 other people, one of Spanish nationality, residing in Lanzarote, and another of Argentine nationality, a member of an important Peruvian drug cartel, who left Lanzarote in April for South America and transported the drug to Spanish territory.
During the journey, the Civil Guard agents continue with the investigation and surveillance of the leader of the organization and detect 
other people related to it. These are people from his environment, with few or no economic resources, who carried out the procedures or tasks that he required in his name to organize the arrival of the sailboat. In this way he managed to hide his identity and, if the criminal activity was detected, he could not be related to the events.
The head of the network had imposed a complex numerical system to encrypt communications and issue orders among its members.
The investigators, through the usual channels of collaboration, established contacts with the Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States and the French Customs Service in the Caribbean, the Argentine National Gendarmerie and Europol, with whom they coordinated to monitor the movements of the sailboat in the Caribbean and draw up the lines of action upon its return.
Operation Exploitation
After having spent a long season in the Caribbean area of Antigua and Barbuda and having transferred the drug from another boat near the Venezuelan coast, in the early morning of August 6, upon the arrival of the boat to the Spanish coast of La Santa, Tinajo, after its meeting with the sailboat in the high seas from which the drug is transferred, agents of the Civil Guard of the Main Post of Costa Teguise, arrest the man of Peruvian nationality who made the journey on the sailboat and another person. In addition, 20 sports bags containing 470 kilograms of cocaine are seized.
Later, the sailboat was located and registered in the Puerto de Calero marina, where numerous indications were found to continue with the exploitation of the Operation.
Subsequently, the Civil Guard carried out three searches in homes in Lanzarote, where important documentation for the investigation and sophisticated electronic means of communication and navigation were seized.
The detainees are R.H.N., Spanish, 29 years old and head of the organization; S.A.A.H.: Argentine, 54 years old, captain of the boat that transported the drug to the coast, with three different falsified identities and a current warrant for drug trafficking; D.A.A.A., Spanish, 34 years old, crew member of the sailboat: O.R.O., Spanish, 32 years old, arrested on the boat that transported the drug to the coast; L.M.L.M., Spanish, 39 years old, arrested in Lanzarote; C.D.M., Spanish, 32 years old, also arrested in Lanzarote.
The detainees provided infrastructure to another organization based in South America, for the transport of drugs from there to the 
Canary archipelago. For this they had the sailboat for the journey and the necessary means for unloading and hiding until delivery to its owners, who took charge of part of the cocaine, which would later be distributed in the peninsula. On the other hand, they kept part of the drug for distribution in the islands.
The investigation has been directed by the Investigating Court number Two of Arrecife and has been carried out by members of the Main Post of the Civil Guard of Costa Teguise, as well as the Organized Crime Team of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard based in the Canary Islands and the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the same Corps of the Tenerife Command,
All detainees have been imprisoned.
