Drug traffickers suspected of starting Sierra Bermeja blaze

DRUG traffickers are suspected by Spanish police of starting the Sierra Bermeja blaze that ravaged the Costa del Sol for six days

According to Spanish police investigators, it is suspected that the Sierra Bermeja blaze that burned out of control for six days on the Costa del Sol – claiming the life of one firefighter in the process – could well have been started by drug traffickers, to create a diversion while they brought in their drug shipments across the sea from Africa, including cannabis, and possibly cocaine as well.
Such a tactical diversion would obviously leave the smugglers free to unload the shipments more easily, whilst the attention of the security forces was concentrated on the fire, which devastated some 10,000 hectares of forested landscape along the Spanish coastline.
Spain and Morocco are separated by a stretch of water only 14km (8 miles) wide, and it is estimated that more than 280 tons of drugs each month get shipped across this expanse into Europe, with around 80 per cent of the hashish that enters Europe believed to be coming from this route.
Investigators have reportedly traced the source of the fire to Genaguacil, a small village with a population of around 500, that sits atop a hill in the Serrania de Ronda region, where they allegedly found the burned remnants of a pile of pine cones and leaves that had been ignited using a lighter, possibly using a flammable liquid as an accelerator, which with the strong winds at that time, would spread the resulting fire quickly through the surrounding undergrowth.
Juanma Moreno, the president of the Andalucian Government said last Thursday, September 16, that the person or persons responsible for starting the fire were, “experts out to cause the greatest possible harm”, as reported by telegraph.co.uk.

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