A 39-year-old man, a self-employed worker in the cleaning and gardening sector, involved his two brothers and his wife in a drug trafficking scheme at various scales. The organization, based in Teulada, Alicante, would receive drugs transported by narco boats from North Africa to the coast of Alicante province. They would store the drugs in their own properties and distribute them at retail and international levels through frequent meetings with criminals from other countries. In order to avoid detection, they employed various counter-surveillance strategies, such as hiding drugs in a black shopping cart. An investigation by the National Police and the Tax Agency’s Customs Surveillance Service led to the arrest of the four members of the gang, who are facing charges of drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal organization. The leader’s wife, aged 30, also faces charges of assaulting a police officer during her arrest. One of the leader’s younger brothers has been imprisoned.
The tracking of this group stemmed from two previous police operations against drug trafficking, which uncovered an organization based in Teulada, a coastal town in the Marina Alta region north of Alicante. The Tax Agency in Valencia was also following the same lead, obtained through different channels. The suspects were the same individuals involved in the drug trafficking operation. The presumed gardener, his two younger brothers, and his wife, all of Moroccan descent aged between 22 and 39, would collect drugs from an undisclosed point on the Alicante coast. The operation involved drug trafficking at all scales, as evidenced by their interactions with individuals of various nationalities driving foreign-registered vehicles. The drugs were stored in the homes of the younger brothers, as the eldest brother tried to avoid imprisonment in case of arrest due to prior criminal records for the same offense. The use of a black shopping cart was a distinctive characteristic of the trafficking group.
In late January, members of the Special Response Group for Organized Crime (Greco) in Alicante and the Customs Surveillance Service in Valencia raided the homes of all those involved. In the leader’s residence, his 30-year-old wife physically attacked and attempted to disarm the agents, but was unsuccessful. She was arrested along with her husband and brothers-in-law. During the raid, authorities seized a total of 42,535 euros in cash, 795 grams of cocaine, three kilos of marijuana, and 65 kilos of hashish. Some of the hashish blocks were found in the black shopping cart observed during surveillance. Additionally, the investigation uncovered cutting agents, scales, accounting records, and bladed weapons. In the leader’s car, investigators found over 1,000 euros in cash and multiple doses of cocaine prepared for distribution. The four individuals arrested were brought before a court in Dénia, Alicante, where one was remanded in custody while the others were released pending further legal proceedings.
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