The National Police, in collaboration with the Moroccan authorities, have dismantled a criminal organisation allegedly dedicated to international drug trafficking. The investigation, which began in Malaga city, has led to the arrest of six people in Alicante province. Among those arrested are a Local Police officer from Benidorm and his son, a National Police trainee officer.
Operation Lemming began early in 2023. After an intervention carried out in Malaga city, the officers of the Udyco-Costa del Sol Unit detected an international gang dedicated to the importation of large consignments of drugs from Morocco.
The investigators discovered that one of the gang members was in charge of organising the transport of the drugs into Spain. In September, they learned that this man had made several trips to Melilla, the Spanish enclave in northern Africa, and Morocco to meet with drug suppliers in that country.
The detainees installed a false bottom in a van to conceal the drugs. The National Police said that the gang’s intention was to use this formula for future transports if the operation was successful. In December, one of the drug gang members drove, and parked, the vehicle in Melilla before returning to Alicante to receive confirmation from the suppliers that the drugs were ready. A month later, a member of the criminal network travelled to Melilla to drive the van into Morocco, where it was delivered to another gang member in charge of loading the drugs.
The drug load was delayed for several weeks, during which the gang finalised the transport logistics. In February, the drugs were transported on a ferry from the Moroccan port of Nador to Almeria. Police set a device to follow the vehicle which was intercepted in Alfaz del Pi, Alicante, where the driver was arrested and 250 kilos of hashish were seized.
Subsequently, the officers arrested the other four members of the gang – among them, the two policemen – and four searches were carried out, in which a pistol and a revolver were seized, as well as multiple rounds of ammunition of different calibres.
