Spanish have gone public with an operation against a drug trafficking gang smuggling cocaine and marihuana into Ireland from Spain which has led to 20 arrests.
Spanish cops say the criminals hid the drugs in secret compartments in vehicles they fitted out with the narcotics at a warehouse on an industrial estate in the east coast Spanish city of Castellon between Barcelona and Valencia.
More than 300 kilos of cocaine and 220 kilos of marihuana were seized in the operation and a total of ten Irish nationals held in Ireland and Spain according to Spanish cops. Well-placed sources claimed one UK national was also arrested.
The Civil Guard said today the heads of the criminal organisation in Spain were caught “red handed” at the Castellon warehouse, including an Irish national who was acting as a “delegate” of the international network in Ireland.
More arrests are understood to have taken place in Ireland in the last few days.
Arrests in Ireland
Thirteen of the 20 detentions took place in Spain according to police there and the other seven in Ireland. The suspects, aged between 30 and 50, are Spanish, Colombian, Irish and British.
A spokesman for the Spanish Civil Guard, which released footage and photos of the Europol-coordinated operation involving the gardaí, Spanish Customs officers and the Italian Antimafia Investigation Directorate, said today: “An international drug trafficking organisation based in Murcia, Castellon and Malaga which was sending large amounts of drugs to Ireland has been smashed.
“The operation was codenamed Operation Pereira.
“The drugs were sent to Dublin in ‘caletas’ or secret compartments using all types of vehicles.
“Twenty members of the organisation have been arrested and more than 200 kilos of marihuana and 300 kilos of cocaine seized.
“The first indications of this organisation’s activity were obtained at the end of 2023.
“They enabled investigators to detect the presence of a group of around 20 people with experience of this sort of illicit activity who were adopting security measures to avoid being detected.
“This network of people also enjoyed a high standard of living which enabled them to elicit support from others and widen their area of influence.
“The place they used as a HQ was an industrial estate in Castellon, which was where the drugs were sent from, and they had another in Dublin which received the narcotics.
“The network also had ramifications in Murcia further south and Malaga.”
Secret compartments
A spokesman for the police force added: “At the warehouse in Castellon they vacuum-packed the marihuana and cocaine and hit them in sophisticated secret compartments in cars, lorries and trailers.
“Cars were generally used to bring the drugs to the warehouse. Different products to disguise the load as legal were also added. A lorry with Irish number plates was generally used to export the drugs.
“The lorry tended to leave with just half a load of drugs before legal merchandise was added and it went via France before embarking on its final journey to Ireland. The amount of cocaine seized came to 314 kilos and the marihuana to 220 kilos.
“More than 100 kilos of cocaine were seized by the Civil Guard inside the warehouse in Castellon where the main members of the criminal organisation in Spain were caught red-handed along with an Irish national who was a delegate of the international network of that country.
“Over the last few days, the remaining arrests of the members of the criminal organisation in Ireland have taken place, and among them is the suspected gang leader in Ireland.
“The 220 kilos of marihuana were intercepted in Valencia, hidden in a lorry bound for Ireland. As well as drugs, property and cash totalling more than EUROS one million euros has been confiscated, including 12 vehicles, four lorries, 35,000 euros in cash, a pistol with ammunition, four computers and 35 mobile phones as well as different documentation.
“Four searches took place in Spain, three in Castellon and one in Orihuela in the province of Alicante as well as one in Ireland. Thirteen of the 20 arrests took place in Spain and the rest in Ireland.
“The suspects, aged between 30 and 50, are mostly Spanish, Irish and Colombian. They have been accused of belonging to a criminal gang, drug trafficking, money laundering and illegal weapons possession.”
Europol
Europol said in a separate statement, putting the number of arrests at 12: “The criminals are suspected of involvement in large-scale drug trafficking, mainly by transporting drugs hidden in vehicles from Spain to Ireland.
“Law enforcement uncovered the network’s activities, including drug-related crimes such as money laundering, when it dismantled the Ghost encrypted communication platform in September 2024. In an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to evade detection, the criminals had relied on sophisticated encrypted communications and had fragmented their exchanges across multiple platforms.
"During the action day, however, investigators were able to trace several Ghost user handles back to members of the criminal network.
“This high-risk criminal network coordinated the drug trade using these sophisticated communication channels, relying on both encryption and multi-platform distribution. The sophistication of their communications was in stark contrast to the simplicity of their modus operandi; it consisted of smuggling cocaine and marijuana across the continent in vehicles equipped with custom-made secret compartments and cloned number plates.”
