Simon Hunter
SPANISH authorities have made eight arrests and seized 66 kilograms of cocaine, after detecting a gang that imported drugs from Peru well hidden inside industrial machinery.
The National Police and the Civil Guard joint operation began after the Peruvian authorities informed their Spanish counterparts about the criminal organisation, which sent the doctored machinery via sea.
The gang would first purchase the machines and then modify them to create hiding places for the narcotics, according to a statement from the Civil Guard.
In early April, investigating officers discovered a suspicious container in the port of Algeciras. The machine consisted of four heavy rollers, and inspections revealed that the equipment had been modified to create hidden compartments.
The container was then moved to Valencia, before in May being collected by a truck and taken to Barcelona province.
The Civil Guard, National Police and customs officers managed to surprise a group of six criminals when they were in the process of removing the 61 packages of cocaine, which weighed approximately 66 kilos in total.
Further investigations into the administrative process that saw the drugs arrive in Spain yielded another two arrests, in Barcelona and El Ejido (Almería).
This smuggling method has been seen in Spain on other occasions. At the port of Barcelona, 620 kilos of cocaine were found in a 12-tonne rotor while an 11-tonne shredder yielded a haul of 464 kilos of the drug.
Read more:
- Special forces cops raid cocaine lab in Spain’ Madrid and arrest 12 gang members
- Street drug dealer uses Covid mask to store cocaine in Spain’s Valencia area
