An operation by the National Police and Customs Surveillance has resulted in the seizure of 513 kilos of cocaine hidden in the false bottom of a heavy industrial machine, which was shipped from Argentina to an industrial warehouse in Mérida, Extremadura.
The operation, together with the Argentine Federal Police and the Peruvian National Police, has dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to intercontinental trafficking, resulting in five arrests in Spain and four in Argentina, as well as a total of 15 entries and searches.
The proceedings against the criminal organization, based in Spain, Argentina, and Peru, began in 2024, and since then, 2,600 kilos of cocaine have been seized, hidden in various types of industrial machinery such as crushing machines, lathes, drill bits, and milling machines, which were transported in maritime containers, according to a statement from the National Police.
The investigation began last April when the Malaga Customs Surveillance Operational Unit detected, through risk analysis, a shipment suspected of containing a narcotic substance that was to be shipped from Buenos Aires to Algeciras and subsequently to Badajoz.
At the same time, the National Police received information from the Argentine Federal Police about the possible existence, in the seaport of Buenos Aires, of a heavy industrial winch that could be used to transport narcotics. However, the heavy security measures with which the machinery was built had prevented the detection of the drugs.
The investigation has confirmed that at the end of July, the criminal organization used a container from Argentina to camouflage the drugs among the machinery, remaining in the Port of Algeciras for approximately a month.
At the end of August, and in anticipation of the terminal’s departure, investigators established surveillance. The container containing the machinery was loaded onto a truck and departed for Extremadura, finally being unloaded on August 28th at a warehouse in Mérida (Badajoz).
There, a false bottom was discovered in the machinery, containing a total of 444 cocaine pills weighing 513 kilos. Once the narcotic substance was located, five Spanish citizens linked to the criminal organization based in Seville were arrested.
Source: infobae
