The Guardia Civil and the Tax Agency’s Customs Surveillance Service have broken up a drug trafficking and money laundering gang based in the south of the peninsula. In the operation, 25 people were arrested, and assets worth more than six million euros were seized.
This week, the so-called “Erytheia-Dolmen” operation came to an end after two years of investigations with the execution of almost thirty simultaneous searches in the provinces of Almería, Málaga, Granada, and Alicante, according to a statement from both organisations.
The criminal network developed a complicated structure to clean up drug trafficking proceeds, which led to the confiscation of a lot of real estate worth 6,110,000 euros by the courts.
The confiscated properties include a luxury residence, three farms, two recreational sites, an industrial building, five commercial buildings, two duplex-style dwellings, and twelve additional urban and agricultural assets.
The agents have also barred around 100 bank accounts in 13 different businesses and stopped six commercial enterprises that are connected to the agriculture, hospitality, and business sectors.
The effort to mess with the organisation’s logistics involved taking control of about 100 boats and cars, which had a market value of almost one million euros. During the searches, the authorities also uncovered almost 100,000 euros in cash, a lot of jewellery, expensive watches, and 150 Christmas lottery tickets that were probably bought to launder money.
The finding of a submachine gun, nine handguns, two long guns, a taser pistol, and a bulletproof vest stands out in terms of weapons. This shows how deadly the organisation is.
They have also taken more than a tonne of hashish, 20 kilos of cocaine, and 13 kilos of marijuana.
Last September, the investigation sped up when officials stopped a cargo on a beach in the municipality of Adra (Almería). They caught a tonne of hashish and arrested four gang members, three of whom went to jail.
More than 150 people, including elite units like the GAR and GRS, as well as air assets and dog units, were involved in the last operation.
Author: Derek Appleton
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