"This is the biggest-ever seizure of crystal meth in Spain and the second largest in Europe," Antonio Martinez Duarte, head of the police's drug trafficking and organized crime unit, told reporters.
Operation Saga
In early 2023, agents became aware of the existence of a criminal group, based in Tenerife, dedicated to cocaine trafficking from the peninsula to the Canary archipelago. The investigations made it possible to arrest one of those responsible for the criminal structure and find out that they were sending the cocaine by hiding it inside household appliances that were sent to the island through legal companies that were unaware of the contents of the shipment.
That operation saw the seizure of 24 kilograms of cocaine, hidden in washing machines.
From that operation onwards, the investigations focused on identifying those responsible for the shipment and were able to find out that it had been carried out through a logistics company located in the southern area of Madrid, where members of the organization traveled to make certain shipments. hidden in appliances.
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Once identified, various surveillance and follow-ups were carried out that led the agents to find out that the person responsible for the organization operated from the province of Valencia and that he adopted important counter-surveillance measures to avoid being investigated. In addition, to carry out the operations they used a second vehicle that acted as a shuttle in transport operations to detect possible police controls.
“We in the National Police thought that the Mexican cartels were not established in Spain,” Martínez said. “But it is true that due to the pressure they are under in other parts of Europe, above all against their laboratories, we are seeing how they are trying to start operations or set up illegal laboratories in Spain to produce drugs.”
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According to Martínez, the group used houses in isolated areas in the Valencia region to store the smuggled shipments of methamphetamines before using vehicles with false bottoms to send them on to other European countries.
The takedown began on May 6 in Tenerife, directed by ‘Udyco’ (the Drug and Organized Crime Unit) when detectives seized part of the shipment – roughly 240 kilos in a van and another load in a Valencian warehouse. They had installed a complex hydraulic system to hide the drugs in the floor of the van.
Shipping methamphetamine overseas from Mexico leads to dramatically larger profits. In Mexico, a kilogram of meth is valued at around $600, jumping to $1,000 to $5,000 per kilo after crossing the US border. But in places like Europe, that same kilo can fetch around $20,000 and even more in Australia going for almost $200,000 per kilogram.
On May 7, Germany hosted the third ministerial meeting of the Coalition of European countries against serious and organized crime, which resolved to strengthen cooperation with South American partners to fight the growing menace of drug trafficking.
The meeting in Hamburg also explored better ways to protect European Union (EU) logistics hubs from being used as entry points for drugs originating from countries like Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The partners also want to find better ways to dismantle international criminal networks, which have turned the EU into a lucrative market for narcotics.
The meeting was convened by the European Ports Alliance, which was established in January to look for ways to fight against drug trafficking. Members include Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. It was also attended by representatives from Sweden, the European Commission, EU agencies Europol and Eurojust, World Shipping Council and South American officials.
The volume of smuggled cocaine has been rising. In 2023 alone, 44 tons of cocaine were seized in Germany, 59 tons in the Netherlands and 116 tons in Belgium. The major ports in Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg serve as the primary gateways to Europe for illegal drug imports.
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Marbella - UN of Organized Crime Groups
Once known as a haven for escaped British criminals, the Costa del Sol has reportedly moved into another, more dangerous league: Marbella, known for its expensive property and wonderful nightlife oases, has become the global headquarters, and the playground for multinational groups of organized criminal gangs. The coastal Spanish landscape now is home to dozens of organized crime groups from all over the world including Irish, Italian and Balkan trafficking groups, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs), Colombian and Mexican Cartels.
"It's the United Nations of organized crime, as one police detective called it. Marbella is a place where gangs can do their work, but where they can also enjoy life in restaurants, villas, and beautiful bars," says Nacho Carretero, a Spanish journalist.
“The Costa del Sol is a kind of hub, or ‘coworking’ space, where almost every major criminal group in the world has some sort of presence,” a senior National police agent investigating organized crime told us. “It’s a UN of criminals for a globalized world. Marbella is a tourist brand, but it’s also a criminal brand.” Marcos Frías, chief of the Central Organised Crime Brigade, said: “If a crime boss from Liverpool wants to traffic drugs on a large scale, he knows he has to make an appearance in Marbella. He doesn’t have a choice.”
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More than 100 criminal gangs from 59 nationalities are estimated to operate from this popular tourist haven, including the Serbian mafia, Swedish biker gangs, and the Italian mafia. Attracted by Gibraltar's proximity to drug markets and scrupulous money-laundering services, gangs from the Netherlands, Morocco, Albania, and Britain also compete for a share of the market for hashish smuggled from North Africa or cocaine shipped from South America; and more recently, meth from Mexico.
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Occasionally, this leads to violence: there have been shootings, as well as cases of horrific torture, sometimes carried out in luxury villas occupied by gangs.
One victim had holes drilled in her legs. Another recently turned up with his back cut to pieces from days of flogging after a drug haul went missing. The badly disfigured corpses are dumped by the roadside in the hills outside Marbella.
At the same time, today's mobsters have been willing to work together when it suits their needs. The Dutch generally deal directly with the Colombians to arrange drug shipments in food containers sent to Algeciras, 50 miles south of Marbella. Illegal goods are often guarded by the Italian Camorra. Albanians and Kosovars supply weapons and act as muscle. Meanwhile, British criminals help launder the profits.
The Costa del Sol was once home to the infamous Kinahan Cartel members before many fled to Dubai to avoid being targetted by both rivals and authorities in Ireland. Following US sanctions in April 2022, they have been closing companies they had registered in Dubai, with relatives selling off some of their properties to avoid being seized.
In 2012 Daniel Kinahan and Irish boxer, Matthew Macklin, founded MTK (Mack The Knife Boxing) which is now known as MGM, in Marbella, Spain. It was at the weigh-in for an MTK boxing match in 2016 where rival Hutch family shooters attacked the event in an attempt to kill Daniel Kinahan. It was suspected that Daniel ordered the murder of Gary Hutch, his long time friend, in Spain. This event forced the Kinahan's to move from Spain to Dubai.
Ryan James Hale, who was dedicated to laundering the Kinahans' money on the Costa del Sol, is one of two detainees in Dubai whose extradition Spain requests, along with the Panamanian Anthony "Hassan" Alfredo Martínez Meza.
Biker Gang Takedown
Spanish police announced they had dismantled a German gang that was using heavily armed Colombian "soldiers" for protection. They operated from a restaurant in Puerto Banus, just down the road from Marbella and a few doors away from Bar Sinatra, a famed hangout of traffickers.
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The week before the Sinaloa Cartel cell take down; it was announced that a motorcycle gang, the Comanches MC, lead by a German Hells Angels member based in Marbella, Spain are suspected of trafficking large amounts of cannabis and cocaine from Málaga, Spain, to Germany. The group also smuggled weapons along the same route. The investigation, initiated in mid-2023 under the General Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt, Germany, targeted a criminal network currently going by the name Bandidos.
It began in December 2022 following the arrest of three people (of Colombian and Albanian origin) in the French town of Dax. They had €382,000 in cash hidden in their vehicle. Agents detected the organization's base of operations, a Puerto Banús restaurant run by its leaders, and a yacht docked in Marbella, where they held meetings with other drug traffickers.
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The leader of the group, a German national based in Spain, is considered a High-Value Target in this investigation. Investigators from the German Federal Police and the Spanish National Police identified him as a high-ranking member of the Hells Angels in Marbella.
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Late last year, authorities in Marbella arrested one of the MC Comanches leaders. He was wanted by German authorities under a European arrest warrant for his alleged direct involvement in drug trafficking between Spain and northern Europe. Investigations revealed that once this individual was arrested and extradited to Germany, the recently arrested member was made head of the drug trafficking network.
On March 21, 2024, officers from the Spanish National Police raided the ring leader’s private villa as well as his car rental business offices.
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Information exchanged through Europol uncovered that Romanian authorities also had an arrest warrant for the man for attempted murder. Early last year, Romanian Hells Angels leader Marius Lazar was extradited to the US following joint investigations with the DEA starting in 2020.
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| France's Most Wanted, drug trafficker Mohammed "The Fly" Amra |
French Trafficker's Deadly Prison Escape
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On July 18, 2023 in Puerto Banús, Marbella, a masked shooter opened fire with an Uzi sub-machine gun in a busy commercial area. Beach tourists are seen running from the gunfire. The gunman then leaves in a vehicle that was later found abandoned and burned.
It was reported that the attempted killingof a French drug trafficker was ordered by Mohammed Amra, while he remained behind bars in France on trafficking charges. According to Le Parisien, the Spain contract was part of a drug turf war between Amra and a rival known as “Mehdi.”
His rival then reportedly ordered a revenge hit in Evreux that same month in which two people died, one of them close to Amra. Mohammed "La Mouche" Amra is now wanted by Interpol after they issued a Red Notice.
He had escaped from French custody on Tuesday, May 14 after a violent attack on the prison van in which he was transported in after passing the Incarville tollbooth. Two prison officers were killed and three injured, two of whom were life-threatening after gunmen rammed the prison van and shot the guards with automatic rifles. Two vehicles including the white Audi used as the getaway car and black Peugot used to ram the police van were burned. A BMW was allegedly the final getaway car,
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Amra is suspected to be the boss of the Black Clan in Marseilles, which operates on a council estate. A judicial source said: "He is suspected of having ordered an assassination in Marseille on June 17, 2022.
"The charred corpse of a man was found in a burned vehicle, in the town of Le Rove, bordering Marseille. The victim had obviously been executed beforehand with a bullet to the head."
At the time of the prison van ambush, the 30-year-old was being transported to Evreux jail after attending a court hearing in Rouen. According to reports, prison guards found Amra sawing through the bars of his cell two days before the attack. The failed escape attempt prompted his relocation to a different disciplinary unit with his surveillance level bumped up. His transportation still reportedly required a “Level 3 Escort”, which meant there were 5 prison officers travelling with him.
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Shady Prison Release of Mocro Maffia Leader
Karim Bouyakhrichan the Mocro Maffia boss was arrested in January in Marbella after a 5-year money laundering investigation. But he was released on March 18 after paying only €50,000 bail. April 1, 2024 was the last time that Karim Bouyakhrichan voluntarily appeared in court, he was obliged to appear every 15 days. Since then nothing more is known about him. SER announced that he disappeared as soon as he learned that he was going to be extradited to the Netherlands.
Recently, the former leader of the group, Ridouan Taghi, one of the Super Cartel members with the Kinahan's and other drug traffickers in Dubai, was convicted in Dutch court after several years of a dramatic trial that included his ordering of multiple murders while incarcerated.
Media in the Netherlands have also linked the cartel to threats made against the heir to the Dutch throne, Princess Amalia. Due to the threats, she lived in Spain for at least a year.
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The court in charge of investigating Karim in Spain took 22 days to issue the search and arrest warrants against him again. When the police had arrested him, they uncovered €3 million in several accounts and located 172 properties valued at €50 million. Karim is reported to have several investments in Dubai, where his wife resides in what has become another haven for mutli-national drug traffickers on the run.
Sources Policia España, Zeta Tijuana, Europol, Interpol, Borderland Beat, The Times, The Guardian, SER, Maritime Executive
