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ARCHIVED - International drug ring run by Torrevieja Brit shut down and 43 arrested in Alicante and Murcia
250 officers carried out 30 house raids in the Vega Baja, Murcia and Almeria
The National Police have arrested 43 people linked to an international drug trafficking network run by a British man in Torrevieja.
More than 250 officers carried out 30 house raids in the Vega Baja area of Alicante province, Murcia and Almeria last week, seizing over 100 kilos of marijuana and other drugs destined for the UK and other European countries.
British 'mules' were allegedly used to transport the drugs on behalf of the trafficking network.
Around 30 of the detainees have already appeared before the courts in Torrevieja and 14 of them were remanded in prison. The rest of those arrested were released with charges.
In addition to the drugs, police also seized 26 vehicles, more than 250,000 euros in cash and bank accounts and dismantled 11 indoor crops, confiscating 200 lamps, 150 transformers, fans, filters and ventilators.
During the house searches in Torrevieja, San Miguel de Salinas and Guardamar, police also recovered three small firearms, two of them with their serial numbers erased, several air pistols and other simulated guns, as well as a shotgun.
According to police sources, the "main leader of the international drug trafficking organisation" lives in a villa in Torrevieja, "from where he ran his illicit business".
A Special Security Operations Group (GOES) with the aerial support of an Aerial Means Unit drone was deployed to raid his home.
He and other 'ring leaders' allegedly established such an extensive drug network that in order to fulfil the drug orders they had to "devise a system of rotating shifts so as not to stop at any time to cultivate, store and prepare the drugs for international distribution".
"British mules were recruited to cross the border with suitcases full of vacuum-packed drugs. The rapid intervention of officers prevented two drug shipments of 30 kilos of marijuana from flying to the UK on two occasions," added sources.
The 43 people arrested are from the UK, Ireland, Colombia, Spain, Morocco and Peru. They have been charged, depending on their degree of participation, with drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons, electricity fraud, membership of a criminal organisation and money laundering.
Image: Policía Nacional
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