The investigation was started by police in Spain and Britain in June 2020 but quickly expanded, drawing in forces from 11 different countries and backed by Europol, Europe’s policing agency, a Spanish police statement said.
In total, they confiscated 1.5 tons of cocaine and seized eight vessels used for shifting their product from Latin American and Caribbean nations to Spain. Europol released a video showing authorities opening bricks of cocaine one of the ships as well as officers raiding properties, making arrests, and finding drugs, cash and firearms.
The narcotics were shipped from loading points in Brazil, Colombia, Guayana, Trinidad and Tobago, Santa Lucia, Barbados and Panama to Spanish ports in the Canary Islands, the southern region of Andalusia and the eastern city of Valencia
The leader, who was arrested in Norway, is a veteran drug smuggler known as “The Professor,” the statement said. Europol said Friday it had previously designated the leader as a “high value target.”
He has had “more than 20 years” in the business, winning him the “full confidence of the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels” with whom he coordinated the shipments, it added.
The network also included members of the so-called “Balkans’ cartel” who were “living the high life” in Spain’s southern Costa del Sol, the statement said.
But there was also a spiritual element, police said.
“The criminal organization would appeal to a santero (witchdoctor) to receive his blessing and for the success of its cocaine transportation operations between Latin America and Europe,” it said.
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