Kirsty Mckenzie
THE HEAD one of Europe’s biggest drug gangs was arrested in Spain after a major sting operation.
Leader of the Castaña drugs cartel Antonio Tejón, who is alleged to have made more than €60 million trafficking cannabis from Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar to southern Spain, was detained by police yesterday.
At least 29 others were arrested on the Costa del Sol by police after months of investigation
Operation Dismantle, involved around 400 officers and saw armed police storm properties in Cádiz, Huelva, Seville, Malaga and Ciudad Real.
Cops seized ten tonnes of hashish as well as vehicles, cash and weapons during the raids.
Members of the Castanar gang are alleged to have organised repairs with company in Ciudad Real to maintain the boats in order to avoid raising suspicion in Andalucia.
Police said the gangs in narcos boats would hide behind fishermen to avoid detection while travelling smuggling drugs from Morocco to southern Spain, delivering shipments to tourist beaches or ports on the Costa del Sol.
It is believed that Tejón’s gang funnelled drugs worth millions of euros into Europe each year and have played a major role in making La Linea the drug-smuggling capital of Spain.
The documentary miniseries La Línea: La sombra del narco, which is currently Netflix’s most-watched show since its release a week ago, follows the Castañas gang and its alleged leader Antonio and brother Francisco, known as “Isco”.
The gang, a coalition of several clans, based around La Linea is said to have adopted methods and structures similar to Pablo Escobar’s ruthless Medellin cartel in Colombia and included branches in several parts of Spain including Seville and celeb favourite Sotogrande.
The show revealed that how 20 masked men raided a hospital in 2018 to free an injured colleague who was under police guard after being arrested during a chase.
Police said that it was hard to maintain the law in a town where the Castaña gang paid lookouts €1,000 a day.
