Alex Trelinski
A JOINT Policia Nacional-Guardia Civil operation has taken down a Murcia-based drugs gang that had associates in Alicante and Castellon provinces.
71 people were arrested in Operation Detalka-Aspid including gang leader Pedro Sanchez Guirao, known as El Karateca.
He was detained last May at his home in Bullas, Murcia, along with his girlfriend.
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El Karateca was jailed along with 33 others, with the remainder of the arrests making up phase two of the operation.
Authorities say the gang has been totally dismantled.
Investigations started last year when El Karateca- with a long history of drug trafficking- set up shop in Bullas.
He led a hierarchical criminal organisation from his new base from which he distributed cocaine and marijuana to numerous municipalities in the Murcia region and Alicante province.
El Karateca ran drug sales points in different locations and even set up a second property in Bullas which he converted into a drugs supply warehouse.
Two gangs based in Castellon and Aspe(Alicante province) collaborated with him in transporting narcotics in modified vehicles with double bottoms to Bullas.
Police officers carried out almost 30 raids in homes and premises linked to the organisation.
They seized more than five kilos of high purity cocaine and around 1,000 marijuana plants.
Also removed were €200,000 euros in cash, vehicles with double bottoms, electronic scales, 100 mobile phones and other materials involved in drug trafficking.
Among the assets seized were 12 vehicles, many of them high-end, and the total value of everything that was impounded exceeded €2 million.
