Spanish And British Police Collaborate To Smash Drug Gang In Malaga

IN a joint operation between the Guardia Civil and UK Police, a drug trafficking operation has been successfully closed down.

A report published by the Guardia Civil on Friday, July 7, gave details of a joint operation in which nine people have been arrested, substantial assets have been confiscated along with a huge quantity of drugs.

Cocaine Travelled To UK Via Malaga

The smuggler’s method was for merchant ships from South America to throw bags of cocaine into the sea, which were then picked up by boats belonging to the gang and transported to marinas on the coast of Malaga where they were stored until they were sent to the United Kingdom.

As part of operation ‘Eulalia’ the Guardia Civil, in collaboration with the British National Crime Agency (NCA), has dismantled a criminal organisation dedicated to smuggling large quantities of cocaine from South America into the province of Malaga and the United Kingdom.

Nine members of this network have been arrested, all of them British nationals, and an international arrest warrant has been requested from the United Kingdom for the offences of drug trafficking and membership of a criminal organisation.

Huge Drugs Shipment Seized In Malaga

At various points in the investigation, different searches were carried out in the towns of Mijas Costa and Benalmadena in the province of Malaga, as well as in the United Kingdom, in which 3,754 kg of cocaine, two luxury recreational boats, a vehicle and a large number of mobile phones were seized.

The operation began as a result of a fiscal control carried out in Puerto Marina, Benalmadena in which a boat was observed which aroused the suspicions of officers, who proceeded to identify and inspect the anchorage of the boat.

Initially, 18 cocaine tablets each weighing 1 kg were found inside a plastic chest located on the deck, at which point the narcotic substances were seized and two British nationals were arrested.

After requesting the judicial authority to search the cabins of the boat, a further 166 cocaine tablets, identical to the previous ones, were also discovered.

Following an exchange of information with agents from the British NCA, it was discovered that the same people were being investigated by officers in the UK. As a result, a joint operation was launched between the two forces.

This criminal organisation, which was in charge of managing the logistics and distribution of the drugs, used two luxury recreational boats to sail to a previously agreed point where merchant ships from Brazil would throw watertight bags containing cocaine into the sea. T

The gang members would then collect them from the sea and transport them to marinas on the coast of Malaga. The drugs were stored in safe houses for subsequent transport and distribution in the United Kingdom.

In the actions carried out in the United Kingdom, two shipments of 2.37 tonnes and 1.2 tonnes of of cocaine were seized, as well as the arrest of seven other British nationals who were members of the same gang.