Laurence Dollimore
THIS is the sprawling luxury urbanisation built by and for drug mafias near the border of Gibraltar.
Dubbed Narcoville, the dozens of homes in the El Zabal area of La Linea de la Concepcion have been constructed on protected agricultural land.
The homes have no numbers and are surrounded by metres-high walls, making them only visible from the air.
Covering four square kilometres, the mostly illegal homes come equipped with high tech cameras keeping an eye on who is passing by, with police and journalists among the most regular visitors.
This week it was revealed an Algeciras musician used the home of a drug smuggler as the setting for a music video released last year.
Flamenco reggaeton star Canelita released the video 10 months ago and it has got ten million hits.
It was filmed in the home of drug clan leader Jesus Heredia, who was recently arrested in a drug raids.
There are now several urbanisations containing up to 10 homes each, all of them built with cash earned from the smuggling of tobacco or drugs, police claim.
Policia Nacional have been slowly chipping away at the homes, working with environmental prosecutors to not only prove they are built on protected land, but that drug trafficking profits have been used to build them.
In two recently raided houses, officers from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (Udef) and the Drugs and Organised Crime Unit (Udyco), discovered large amounts of hidden narcotics.
One had 52 bales of hashish weighing 1.5 tonnes hidden underneath the base of a shower. The other, not so smart, had bundles of cash hidden in the toilet and under the sink.
Most recently, on June 29, a huge raid on several of the properties saw 38 people arrested, 11 of whom are being held without bail.
Some of the homes belong to the top dogs of drug and tobacco smuggling, including leaders of the notorious Castañas gang, Kiko el Fuerte (Kiko the Strong), El Pantoja, Gareth Mauro and El Potito.
The latter two are currently on the run.
In images captured by police, the money spent on the homes is made clear.
Most are surrounded by large areas of artificial grass and palm trees.
“I have already seen three swimming pools with the Real Madrid symbol made out of tiles on the floor,” a policeman told Europa Sur.
And their taste is questionable, with enormous buddha statues and walls engraved with the hands of Fatima a regular feature.
“We stumbled across one house which had a flat-screen TV in every single room, while another had an Apple computer for each family member,” another policewoman, using the false name Lola, added.
There were even some houses connected via a secret underground tunnel. The secret passages may have been prepared to be used to transport drugs or money in the event that another house was about to be raided.
The narco neighbourhood continues to grow, despite the fact there is not potable water supply or garbage collection. The properties have to hook up their homes to electricity illegally.
Police believe up to 80% of the homes in El Zabal have been built using illegal funds.
There are currently a number of investigations into the homes, but police have refused to give more details.
