The Diplomat
Agents of the National Police have dismantled in Algeciras a criminal organization allegedly dedicated to the introduction of hashish into Spain from Morocco using unmanned aircraft.
According to the Ministry of the Interior on Thursday, the “narcodrones” were manufactured in Ukraine and subsequently transported by road to the south of Spain, where shipments of the narcotic substance were offered and agreed upon with local criminal organizations in the Campo area. Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol.
A total of ten people have been arrested – seven of them have been imprisoned – and six searches have been carried out in Algeciras and Marbella in an investigation that has had the collaboration of EUROPOL, as well as the police authorities of Ukraine and Poland.
The investigation began more than a year ago after learning of the existence of a criminal organisation that, based in Campo de Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol, is allegedly dedicated to introducing large quantities of hashish into Spain by air. To do this, they used large, homemade drones capable of transporting around ten kilograms of hashish on each flight, with a range of more than fifty kilometres. The use of the aircraft allowed them to fly the route between Morocco and Spain over the waters of the Strait, and return after dropping the drugs in our country without having to land.
Generally, the drones were manufactured in Ukraine and transported by road to the south of Spain, where they were put into operation by individuals from Eastern European countries. These people reached agreements with local criminal organisations based in the area of Campo de Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol, to make this air transport service for narcotics available to them. Specifically, throughout the investigation it was possible to verify how an organisation had tried to send up to a thousand kilos of hashish using this method.
After establishing the corresponding operational device, the agents carried out six house searches in Algeciras and Marbella, managing to arrest nine people as alleged perpetrators of drug trafficking and organised crime.
Three aircraft were seized in the investigation, one of them under construction, as well as devices for their remote control, tools for their repair and significant amounts of cash and narcotics that had been introduced into Spain using this method. The detainees have been placed at the disposal of the 5th Court of Instruction of Algeciras, which ordered the imprisonment of seven of them.
