A network of Dutch drug traffickers, based in Spain, is behind the trade of cocaine between Europe and Costa Rica through large shipments of bananas.
This Thursday, the National Police and the Civil Guard of Spain arrested 16 members of the criminal organization, 13 Dutchmen, one Frenchman, one Slovenian, and one Spaniard. The latter is considered one of the best-known drug dealers on the Costa del Sol (Spain).
According to the investigation, the screen of the organization was a banana exporting company based in Costa Rica.
The drug was not only sent to Spain. First, it arrived in Portugal through the port of Setúbal and, from there, it was transported by land to other cities, such as the Spanish city of Badajoz, in the autonomous community of Extremadura.
This Thursday, the European authorities, in cooperation with the US police, conducted 20 raids in different parts of that country and seized 300 thousand euros in cash.
In an industrial complex located in the city of Málaga, agents found six kilos of cocaine, which would have been brought by the organization in recent days. Apparently, they moved large loads of fruit with the facade of a legal company to disguise the drugs.
From the beginning of the investigations, the behaviors observed in the members of the organization revealed activities exclusively compatible with drug trafficking activities. Thus, it was possible to verify the absence of work and the lavish life they all had, including the availability of high value real estate…”
said the National Police of Spain.
The suspects did not have a job or companies. Most of them have a criminal record for serious crimes. In the case of the Dutch, they were part of the most wanted criminals by the authorities of that country.
Apparently, the group had high ambitions in order to establish more powerful drug trafficking activities.