New maritime drug route: 5 people arrested who tried to take ecstasy from Cádiz to Argentina

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The so-called

, a joint effort between the National Police and Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, has made it possible to apprehend for the first time a maritime shipment of MDMA (ecstasy) crystal

was leaving Cádiz for Argentina on a new route between Europe and South America, where this substance is much scarcer.

The

in which the drug was traveling was intercepted by the patrol boat 'Fenix ​​V' of the Customs Surveillance Service when it began navigation with

hidden on board.

This amount would have made it possible to produce and put on the market between

, depending on the purity, the National Police has specified.

An investigator reviews the seized material. NATIONAL POLICE

The agents have arrested five people, three in

and two in

, within the framework of the European collaboration project against criminal threats EMPACT.

The latter were preparing to travel on the ship with the narcotic in the direction of the Canary Islands, where they intended to get supplies to continue from there to Argentina.

From Spain to Argentina

Operation

reveals a new drug route in which the origin of the drug is in European territory and the destination in Latin America, which would open the doors to a new market

millions of potential consumers and significant economic benefits for the criminal organizations involved.

Precisely "the very high value" that synthetic drugs would acquire in the American continent would be another of the reasons that would explain the opening of "this

drugs," sources close to the investigation have pointed out.

The operation began at the end of October of this year when the Police observed that different criminal organizations on the

were receiving offers to distribute and market a large quantity of synthetic drugs for the Christmas season.

Later, they found out that this drug was going to be sent, by sea, from Europe to South America.

A fact confirmed by the Argentine National Gendarmerie, which provided information about the arrival in Spain from

of an Argentine citizen to take charge of the sailboat with which the drugs were intended to be transported.

sailboat with background

The agents verified that the person investigated, with the support of four other Argentine nationals, was in charge of a ship previously related to the

in 2020, which had been abandoned in Spain.

On that occasion, the intervention resulted in 20 detainees and the seizure of almost 1,500 kilograms of cocaine.

The detainees reformed the exterior of the ship between

so that it was not linked to the previous police operation.

They did not maintain contact with third parties, they never left the sailboat without occupants and they carried out the loads of material and tools at ungodly hours.

It is striking that they coordinated some of their most suspicious movements with the

in the World Cup in Qatar.

The four investigated also reformed the interior area of ​​the boat, while a fifth Argentine, based in Marbella, maintained constant contact with them and

, aluminum sheets and wood so that the occupants of the sailboat could condition it.

At the end of November, the detainees changed the name of the sailboat and two of those investigated began sailing, having to take refuge in the Port of Tarifa, after suffering a breakdown.

Once the pertinent repairs were completed, the crew members began sailing in the direction of the Canary Islands, at which time they were intercepted.

secret compartment

When the ship left Tarifa, the patrol boat 'Fenix ​​V' intercepted the sailboat and after several hours of searching, the Police and SVA investigators, and the GOIT members found a secret compartment, made of aluminum plates, under a piece of furniture

kitchen

Inside, 28 packages containing 56 kilograms of MDMA, perfectly sealed and covered in diesel to mask its smell.

The agents then proceeded to arrest the three people who had remained in Marbella and who had collaborated in preparing the ship.

In

the Spanish National Police has also had the collaboration of the Judicial Police of Portugal, EUROPOL and the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Argentina

• National Police

• Canary Islands

• Marbella

• Europe

• Brazil

• Cadiz

• Malaga

• drugs

• drug trafficking