The National Police, in a joint operation with Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency, have seized 16 tons of pellets impregnated with cocaine and have dismantled a processing, preparation and storage center for synthetic drugs.
The agents have arrested five people, allegedly dedicated to large-scale drug trafficking through the use of maritime containers loaded with pellets. After verifying that the pellet reacted positively to the cocaine test, 920 bags of this product were seized, weighing 18 kilos each, totaling 16,560 kilograms.
The organization had two independent industrial warehouses in Reus (Tarragona). The first of them was intended for the custody and cooling of the substance, while the second was used for packaging, sealing and storing the drug once it was extracted from the material in which it was camouflaged. As a result of the searches carried out, 5 kilos of synthetic drugs – speed and MDMA -, 3,965 euros in cash, two hydraulic presses, material for the production of narcotics, a truck and a high-end vehicle have been seized.
In the second warehouse, the agents located more than five kilos of different synthetic drugs and machinery used in the production of the narcotic substance (a hydraulic press, an industrial press, heat sealers, packaging machines and dryers).
The members of the organization, of Albanian, Dutch and Lithuanian origin, introduced the narcotic substance through Spanish ports, using maritime containers, simulating international trade operations. To do this, they used very sophisticated concealment methods, camouflaging or impregnating the drugs in different materials in order to make their detection difficult.
The investigation has proven shipments of pellet containers (pressed cylindrical pieces of various materials that serve as fuel for boilers or stoves), from the American continent to Spain, impregnated with a narcotic substance. Once the containers arrived in Spain, they let it “cool”, remaining for a minimum of three months inside a ship, until they moved it to another place where the drugs were extracted.
