Spain: traffickers pretend to be police to steal drugs

Policeman keeping drugs after a joint operation by the National Police and the Civil Guard, in Malaga, in October 2018 (Illustrative image).

AFP - JORGE GUERRERO

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

It is a rather astonishing crackdown carried out jointly by the National Police and the Civil Guard in the south of Spain.

Ten individuals, eight men and two women who, pretending to be police officers armed to the teeth, attacked groups of drug traffickers.

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With our correspondent in Madrid, 

Spanish law enforcement has a term for this: 'vuelco'.

Literally, it's a turnaround.

In police jargon, it is the use of a disguise intended to pass for police officers, when we are criminals, and thus deceive the enemy.

This was precisely the specialty of this group that acted along the coast of Malaga.

A dozen men, who were only drug traffickers, and whose main activity was to organize

, against other groups of drug traffickers.

Benefiting from the element of surprise, they got their hands on their merchandise.

When this group was arrested, they had in their possession 70 kilos of

.

extreme violence

Its other characteristic was its extreme violence, like its leader, an Albanian who organized attacks with weapons of war.

This leader was always armed, very difficult to grasp, because always on the move, constantly changing false identity documents which were of several nationalities.

The man also changed in physical appearance, sometimes sporting a beard, sometimes being completely shaved.

The group he led will be tried for membership in a criminal organization, drug trafficking, among other serious crimes.

►Also read: Spain: drug traffickers used underwater drones in the Strait of Gibraltar

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