The Civil Guard and the Tax Agency, in what has been called Operation SILBO, have managed to dismantle one of the most active criminal organizations with an epicenter in the Canary archipelago, in terms of drug trafficking, through the arrest of 34 people in the nearly 40 searches carried out in different parts of the Spanish geography.
This investigation, initiated more than two years ago by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, has had the collaboration of the administration for the control of American drugs, DEA, as well as that of the Judicial Police of Cape Verde, all coordinated by EUROPOL.
In the exploitation phase of this operation, actions have been carried out on the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, as well as in other provinces such as Madrid, Barcelona, Pontevedra, A Coruña and Málaga.
Tenerife businessman
The origin of this investigation focused on the figure of a Tenerife businessman, 42 years old, related to the nightlife, restaurant and construction sectors mainly, also with several companies abroad, all used, as the researchers have been able to corroborate, to direct a complex criminal organization from the Canary Islands, to introduce important shipments of narcotics at a regional, national and international level.
Several introductions of cocaine by mother ships
Parallel to his business management, this businessman directly negotiated the delivery of notorious amounts of cocaine from mother ships from South America, to other boats managed by him, for subsequent entry into the Canary archipelago mainly.
In this scenario, the investigators seized two shipments of notorious relevance destined for Santa Cruz de Tenerife, one of them of 500 kilograms of cocaine in January 2024, in a boat that had previously transferred it from a ship from the South American continent, and later, in the month of November of the same year, another of 1,600 kilograms of the same substance.
In this second case, the leader of this criminal organization had arranged a fishing boat in Guinea Bissau, together with a partner based in Galicia, with the intention of supplying himself with the narcotic in the same way as the previous seizure, taking advantage of the well-known “African cocaine route”.
Hashish destined for the United Kingdom
In the same way, this person had maritime and land infrastructure in other islands of the archipelago, used to receive important quantities of hashish from Morocco, which were sent to the United Kingdom, achieving a rapid return of economic benefits, detecting by the researchers, several meetings with people of British nationality on the Costa del Sol, related to drug trafficking in that country.
The economic investigation developed in parallel has revealed that the main person responsible for the organization had built a corporate network for money laundering that made strong investments in different economic sectors, through national and foreign companies in the restaurant sector, real estate investments and others, making use for these purposes of third parties in his trusted environment.
He was also linked to fishing companies and other assets hidden from third parties, and also used a car rental company to launder the profits obtained in drug trafficking, as well as for the distribution of narcotics through the use of his fleet.
In this way, last April, 66 kilograms of cocaine were seized that were intended to be introduced into Tenerife by means of a vehicle of this company, hidden in it by means of a sophisticated hydraulic system, being able to find out that this cargo had been previously stolen from another criminal group, for which they had kidnapped a member of it.
Extremely violent members
The criminal group now dismantled, used the figure of a person of Cuban nationality and another Colombian, both with military training, who executed violent actions on certain objectives to seize assets of different kinds, even forcing a third party in the south of the Island of Tenerife, to appropriate some land in the municipality of Candelaria.
Throughout the investigation, it was also learned that they also had planned the acquisition of illegal firearms in the peninsula, while they were giving military training to other members of the group.
Laboratory in Tenerife
In the exploitation of this operation, a cocaine processing and cutting laboratory was seized on a farm in El Escobonal, on the island of Tenerife, where they stored a large amount of highly harmful chemicals, as well as the necessary utensils for the processing and adulteration of cocaine.
This investigation, directed by the Court of Instruction No. 3 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and carried out by the Central Operative Unit (Organized Crime Team, ECO Canarias) and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, has resulted in the intervention of 2,185 kilograms of cocaine, firearms modified in perfect working order, more than 600,000 euros in cash, 16 vehicles and 5 boats (fishing boat, a sailboat and 3 speedboats), as well as the blocking of movable and immovable property worth more than 2 million euros.
