Drug baron and 27 members of gang busted in €10 million Costa del Sol operation

OFFICERS of the Guardia Civil working with French police have busted a major drug gang in Malaga province seizing tons of hashish and more than €500,000 in cash.

This has been a long term investigation conducted over two years which has resulted in the arrest of 28 people including the leader of the gang, a Moroccan who lived in Fuengirola.

As the officers started to piece together the make-up of the gang, they discovered that there was a second branch of the organisation in Granada which took delivery of the drugs and then sent them to their eventual destinations across Europe using vehicles with false bottoms.

In 12 coordinated raids, officers arrested 28 people of different nationalities, seized more than five tons of hashish, 390 kilos of marijuana which it is believed was grown locally, €522,410 in cash, one firearm and a number of vehicles with an estimated total combined value of €10 million.

The Spanish investigation included interviews and searches of suspects’ properties in, Alhaurín el Grande, Coin, Fuengirola, Marbella, and Mijas in Malaga province as well as Loja, Güevejar and Motril in Granada and Algeciras in Cadiz.

 In one raid alone, officers found suitcases full of cash and operations in France and Holland also resulted in similar finds.