Agents of the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) of the Civil Guard and agents of the Drug and Organized Crime Unit (UDYCO) of the National Police have proceeded to dismantle a criminal organization based in the Canary Islands, made up entirely of citizens of Spanish nationality, being one of the most active in large-scale cocaine trafficking, with connections to the most important international criminal organizations.
The criminal network maintained connections with the Italian mafia of Calabria, the Skaljari Clan of Montegro, as well as the cartels of Brazil and Colombia, with whom they were related in their criminal activity. It had established several channels for the introduction of cocaine in the Canary Islands, and had important logistics for the distribution of drugs in the archipelago, using, among other methods, vehicles with hidden hydraulic compartments (caletas), which had been specifically equipped with a opening system to which access was only possible if a combination of switches and devices of the vehicles themselves, known only to members of the organization, were known and executed.
They also had sailboat-type vessels prepared to receive cocaine from mother ships on the high seas.
The intense investigation managed to find out the circuit that the organization used for the movement of money from illicit activities, using economic mules, people who would transport significant amounts of money between the islands, from the benefits of drug trafficking.
At the end of April, as a result of the control activity of the agents over the members of the organization, it was determined that the two top officials had moved to the island of Tenerife in order to carry out an illegal transaction related to with drug trafficking. This action culminated in the seizure of 10 kilos of cocaine and the arrest of the highest officials of the organization.
On the island of Gran Canaria, where the leader of the organization and his lieutenant were from, 16 kilos of cocaine were seized, eight vehicles, four of which had hidden compartments with hydraulic opening devices, state-of-the-art electronic devices , encrypted communication mobile terminals, etc.
The operation culminated, with the arrest on the island of Gran Canaria, of five people belonging to the criminal organization, three of them in charge of transporting and moving money from the illicit activities of the criminal network.
The final result obtained after the arrests and house searches translates into eight arrests, seven of which have been imprisoned, the seizure of 26 kilograms of cocaine, the seizure of almost 150,000 euros in cash, eight vehicles (four of them with ), a sailboat type boat, an inflatable boat, five encrypted telephones, electronic security devices, as well as various tools and documentation related to criminal activities.
