Seven-nation drug ring uncovered trafficking cannabis from Murcia to the UK
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The international smugglers were busted when one of their trafficking trucks was intercepted outside Lorca
A group of seven drug dealers from different countries, including Sweden, Ireland, the UK and Spain, were arrested in the Region of Murcia for their involvement in an international cannabis trafficking ring. The operation exposed a complex network of traffickers who used Spain as a hub to transport large quantities of cannabis and hashish to various countries in Europe and the UK.
The group, which included a Swede, an Irishman, two Britons, a man from Granada and two from Murcia, was described as a ‘tower of Babel’ due to the diverse nationalities and languages spoken by its members.
According to arresting officers, the narcotics started off in North Africa. They were couriered first to Spain, before being loaded onto trucks and delivered to other countries. The gang reportedly used a fish distribution company as a front for their operations, whose headquarters was located in a warehouse in an Alcantarilla industrial estate.
Back in October 2017, the Guardia Civil deployed a surveillance operation around the warehouse and noticed several vehicles, including vans and trucks, coming and going. This wouldn’t be unusual, but when the vehicles were intercepted 50 kilometres up the road in Lorca, officers found twenty boxes with 150 vacuum-packed, pressed plastic bags filled with marijuana buds weighing 190 kilos and worth more than 200,000 euros. The 59-year-old truck driver from Granada, VRM, was arrested.
A short time later, several other arrests were made, including one Briton and an Irishman.
During the investigation, it was discovered that the Irish PD, aged 75, had contacts in the United Kingdom to coordinate the transfer of large quantities of narcotics. Another of these links was SM, resident in the United Kingdom, with whom PD met on several occasions to close agreements on the purchase and sale of drugs in Alicante.
The information gathered during the operation led to the incarceration of another Briton, JW, aged 75, who had been in contact with PD in the Orihuela Costa area to transport hashish from Granada.
Subsequent property searches unearthed a money-counting machine, 9,500 euros in cash and three notebooks with notes on quantities of drugs and contacts related to their drug trafficking activity. Officers also seized 63 marijuana plants in one of the homes.
Since the arrests were made, investigators have highlighted the global reach of this drug trafficking network, a sophisticated and well-oiled operation that spanned several different countries.
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