The Civil Guard has arrested in Lanzarote two members of one of the most active criminal organizations in the introduction of hashish in the Canary Islands in the so-called 'Rio Maca' operation, which has resulted in the seizure of 1,450 kilograms of hashish and the arrest of 18 people in the archipelago, of which 17 have been imprisoned. One of the people arrested on the island of Lanzarote is a 58-year-old woman, who was the "right hand" of the leader of this organization, which introduced about three tons of hashish per month into the Canary Islands from Morocco.
The investigation began after the completion, last May, of Operation Cardón, carried out by the Organized Crime Team of the Central Operative Unit, based in the Canary Islands, and the EDOA of the Tenerife Command, in which more than 2,500 kilograms of hashish were seized, dismantling another important organization of historical drug traffickers who introduced large quantities of narcotics into the island of Tenerife.
With the contacts that these detainees maintained in their criminal activity, the investigators detected another important criminal network, which is the one that sent large shipments of hashish from the coasts of Morocco to several of the Islands. In this way, under the coordination of the same Judicial Authority, the agents managed to identify the main member and "undisputed" leader of this criminal group, corresponding to the Moroccan subject M.S, 35 years of age.
Direct orders to all members of the network
This person, according to the Civil Guard, had direct contacts, both in his native country and in the Canary archipelago, to carry out his activity, being himself the one in charge of giving instructions directly to all members of the network: from the truck drivers who made routes through the Moroccan geography to collect the bales of drugs in the places of production, to who had to make the maritime route and its subsequent landing on the Canary coasts.
M.S. also facilitated its important and extensive infrastructure of means to other organizations that introduced hashish in several points of the national territory, always in exchange for high percentages of the profits of the caches.
Modus operandi
The hashish producers in Morocco contacted M.S to indicate the number of bales as well as their location once manufactured, then the latter sent one of his carriers to collect the merchandise and move it to the coast of the Sahara, where it was guarded until it was sent to the Canary Islands by boat.
Once the drug left Morocco, the rest of the organization received the drug at different points on the coast of the Canary archipelago, these places being chosen "consciously and in detail", for which, in the days prior to the landing, numerous people were deployed to avoid and control the police presence, "creating a total sense of impunity among the participants".
According to the Benemérita, the human and technical deployment that the leader of the organization moved to the area selected for landing was of such magnitude, that they did not try to control only the chosen beach, but a wide area of the island, so they did not hesitate to land in broad daylight, to the stupefaction of neighbors and bathers.
Once it was done, the drug was transferred to "nurseries" and from there to "wholesale" sellers, exchanging large amounts of money that were sent to the owners of the hashish in Morocco.
"Right hand" in Lanzarote
This entire hashish circuit was directed, exclusively, by M.S and his two lieutenants, one in Morocco, in charge of supervising the surveillance and shipment of the drug on the Moroccan coasts, as well as the selection of the skippers and boats, and a woman in Spain, C.G.R.G, 58 years old and resident in Lanzarote.
This person was not only in charge of selecting the participants in the landings and the people in charge of the custody and concealment of the substance in national territory, but was also in charge of supervising the payments, for which she did not hesitate to travel between different islands to "exert pressure" when they were delayed.
Interception of a drug shipment in Gran Canaria
Finally, the investigation bore fruit when this criminal group was preparing to land nearly 1,500 kilograms of hashish on Venegueras beach, south of Gran Canaria. To this end, the drug traffickers had arranged surveillance of the place and surroundings from several days before, even settling on the beach, posing as campers, thus having several fixed and mobile surveillance points on all accesses to the beach.
After the arrival of the semi-rigid boat, the agents forming the police device, perfectly designed, found that a total of eight people "carried" the 47 bales of the shipment to a van that they had hidden days before in the vicinity of the beach, then began its transfer by road, for which they had the support of several "shuttle" vehicles at different distances to shield the landing.
In view of these facts, the agents proceeded to intercept the drug shipment, simultaneously arresting the rest of the participants who were in the area, as well as the rest of the organization in different points of several islands of the Canary Archipelago.
A score of agents to arrest the leader
Among these arrests is that of M.S, for which more than twenty agents were needed only for this objective and to be able to control his movements, due to the "extreme" security measures he adopted, always surrounded by a large number of collaborators pending any police presence.
On the other hand, during the investigation, the agents detected a cell of this organization operating in the north of the island of Tenerife, under the orders of M.S., allowing the seizure of 10 kilograms of high quality hashish pollen acorns that this subgroup intended to introduce in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, hidden in a double bottom of a van, proceeding to the detention of the occupant of the same.
With this police operation has been achieved the total disruption of this criminal network dedicated to the introduction of large quantities of hashish in a continuous manner in the Canary archipelago and decreed the imprisonment of 17 of the 18 detainees
The operation was carried out by the Organized Crime Team (ECO Canarias) of the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard, supported by different Units of the Commands of Las Palmas and Tenerife.
