The National Police and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have finished breaking up a Hispanic-Mexican crime group called the Sinaloa cartel. They made nine arrests, three of which were in Alicante and Monforte del Cid. People thought the group was in charge of the major place in Europe where methamphetamines, or “crystal,” were sold.
One of the people who was arrested owns a marble company in Monforte. Agents from the Organised Crime Group of the National Police of Alicante found out that he had a bunker where he hid almost three million euros, which he says is money he made from the drug trafficking of the network that was shut down.
The arrests are part of the second leg of “Operation Saga,” which in 2024 took down the Sinaloa cartel’s infrastructure in Spain and confiscated 1,800 kilos of methamphetamine in Villena and Puçol (Valencia). This was the second greatest “crystal” seizure in Europe.
Police detained six more people and searched homes in Valencia, Madrid, and Málaga. They also arrested one person in Monforte del Cid and two more in a housing complex in the golf course region of Playa de San Juan in Alicante. They were sent to the National Court because they were thought to be involved in drug trafficking, being part of a criminal organisation, and money laundering. A member of the Sinaloa cartel who was hiding in Madrid and the businessman who runs the marble company in Monforte that was supposedly utilised to carry the drugs were both caught.
The investigation started in 2023 with Operation Saga, which led to the seizure of 1,800 kilos of methamphetamine and the shutdown of the main supply point for synthetic drugs in Europe, which was located in Tenerife, Madrid, Valencia, and Alicante. The Court of Instruction number 6 of the National Court led the investigation.
After this operation, the agents found out that new members of the group, which is based in Spain and Mexico, were trying to reorganise their finances.
So, in July 2024, this criminal group shipped 40 kilogrammes of methamphetamine to Tenerife. It was placed at the base of a statue that was almost 1.5 meters tall. The police quickly apprehended the person who got the package, who turned out to be a well-known drug dealer from the island.
In the meantime, last September, a member of the Sinaloa cartel was found and identified hiding in a Madrid flat. He barely left the flat and was paid 2,500 euros a month to keep quiet because he had helped bring in and guard the 1,800 kilos of methamphetamines that were seized in Villena and Puçol during ‘Operation Saga’.
The police also stopped a cargo of 38 kilogrammes of marijuana that the group had transported to Finland. They were able to arrest the person who had travelled there just to pick up the drugs thanks to working with Finland’s Customs.
Three million euro hidden
The police kept looking into the case and arrested two important people. One was a businessman who exploited his real marble company in Monforte del Cid to transport the drug inside stones that were brought in from Mexico. A search of one of his industrial facilities in Novelda found around €3,000,000 concealed in a bunker underneath.
The head of the drug transporters’ criminal network, who was in charge of operations between Dubai and Mexico and the other members of the group, was found, though.
They found seven expensive watches, seven mobile phones, geolocation devices, and a lot of ammunition during searches of seven properties in Valencia (2), Alicante (3), Malaga (1), and Madrid (1).
The arrest of these nine people has broken up what investigators say is the most formidable criminal network in Europe for trafficking synthetic narcotics.
Author: Derek Appleton
No Comment! Be the first one.