Europa Press Seville

Seville

Updated Friday, March 22, 2024-09:41

The

Civil Guard

and the

Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie

, within the framework of operation 'Torcal 469 Tornado', have dismantled a criminal organization, arresting its nine members for carrying out "narco flights" with helicopters to introduce hashish into Spain from

Morocco

. Among those detained are two pilots who are experts in night and low-altitude flights and in total, two helicopters have been seized and 795 kilograms of hashish have been seized.

The operation began in mid-2023 following the monitoring of a member of the organization dedicated to international hashish trafficking. Investigators found out that the organization was looking for pilots to carry out 'narco flights' between Spain and Morocco.

After several months of investigation, the agents confirmed that the organization had two hidden helicopters, one on a farm in the province of

Seville

and another on another in

Cádiz

. Both farms were contracted by the leader of the organization to be used for drug trafficking.

In the early hours of January 15, investigators detected a 'narco-flight' in the province of Cádiz heading south from the organization's farm.

The agents observed that the helicopter was flying at a very low altitude and without any type of lights, so a large joint device was immediately organized between the Civil Guard and the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie in which, among other units, the GAR were activated. and to the Helicopter Unit of the Civil Guard.

During monitoring, it was detected that it entered the airspace of Morocco, a country in which it remained for a few minutes. Later, the same aircraft was detected again heading north towards Spain. The Civil Guard helicopter managed to intercept the aircraft from the air when it landed on a farm located in the town of

Chiclana de Frontera (Cádiz),

in coordination with the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie and with ground units of the Civil Guard. such as the GAR or investigation units, achieving at that time the arrest of five of the members of the criminal organization, including the pilot.

The helicopter was carrying a load of

30 burlap bales of hashish

that weighed 795 kilograms, inside which several navigation devices and mobile terminals were also seized. Likewise, three vehicles used by the organization were seized at the scene.

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One of the organization's top officials suffered a traffic accident and died in an area close to where the helicopter was seized, suspecting that he fled the scene with a vehicle at high speed until he had the accident when he left the road.

In the next phase of the investigation, four entries and searches were carried out, four more people from the organization were arrested and a second helicopter was seized on a farm in the Sevillian town of Utrera. This second aircraft was being conditioned to be able to carry out

'narco flights'

.

The organization was organized and hierarchical in such a way that each member had his own task, divided between obtaining the helicopters, others finding ships to hide them and farms from which to start the flights, hiring the pilots for the aircraft, obtaining the fuel and the mechanics to carry out the maintenance and tuning of the helicopters, as well as the owners of the narcotic substances.

Both helicopters were acquired by the criminal organization in Eastern European countries, having capacity for several passengers, although the drug traffickers removed the back seats to transport a larger quantity of drugs, and could carry amounts close to 900 kilos of hashish. The market value of this type of aircraft on the black market would be around

900,000 euros

.

The investigation has been carried out by agents of the Civil Guard and the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie. Judicial Police Units of Málaga and Cádiz and the Regional Center for Analysis and Intelligence against Drug Trafficking (CRAIN), with support from the GAR and the UHEL, together with personnel from the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie, with whom the exchange of fundamental information for the dismantling of the criminal organization.