Two clandestine cocaine laboratories dismantled in Torremolinos

Madrid police free a female hostage found locked in a chest under the bed

Madrid police free a female hostage found locked in a chest under the bed. image: policia nacional

Police in Torremolinos have dismantled two laboratories where criminals were ‘cooking’ cocaine

The National Police has recently completed a successful operation against drug trafficking, in the Cordoban town of Lucena, and the Malaga resort of Torremolinos. As a result, eight people have been arrested as alleged perpetrators of crimes including drug trafficking, and belonging to a criminal organisation.

Operation ‘Mojito-Cocina’ began last July after investigators learned that several people residing in Lucena, could be dedicating themselves to acquiring drugs. More specifically, it was believed they were purchasing cocaine in large Spanish cities, which they later cut and sold in Lucena and Torremolinos, to other traffickers, or even direct to consumers.

Various procedures were subsequently carried out, which confirmed the existence of a criminal organisation dedicated to drug trafficking, on a medium and small scale, using six properties located in the towns of Lucena and two in Torremolinos.

Two of these buildings were discovered to have been set up as ‘laboratories’, with all the necessary kinds of utensils for the preparation and cutting of cocaine. Members of the network ‘cooked’ the drug here, in order to maximise the benefits obtained from it.

According to a statement from the National Police, officers were able to determine how the gang stored said cocaine in different ‘safe’ buildings, for its subsequent distribution to other organisations.

With all the data obtained, investigators proceeded to request from the judicial authority the corresponding entry and search warrants for the eight homes used by those now detained. These searches were carried out on December 23, involving sniffer dogs from the Provincial Police Station of Malaga.

Nine kilos of cocaine was seized, with an estimated street value of €540,000. Also confiscated were five motor vehicles, a hydraulic press, a heat-sealing machine (for packaging and packaging of substances narcotics), and a wide variety of tools for the preparation and cutting of the drug.

Among the seized vehicles were two cars that had previously been modified with double bottoms, in which they hid the narcotic substances during their transportation, thus trying to avoid any type of police control.

Once the eight detainees were brought to justice, the judge of the First Instance and Instruction Court No2 of Lucena ordered the entry into prison of five of them, and the release with charges for the other three, as reported by malagahoy.es.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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