The Civil Guard has arrested 4 people in San Miguel de Salinas and Orihuela Costa who are alleged to be members of a gang based in La Vega Baja that was sending parcels full of marijuana to Ireland
One of the men arrested was picked up after he fled from a Guardia Civil patrol at a petrol station in the Madrid municipality of Rivas Vaciamadrid where he abandoned four suitcases with 54 kilos of marijuana. Rather ironically, the officers had only stopped to admonish him for using a mobile phone while he was filling up his vehicle.
In addition to exporting drugs to Ireland, they also sold in the municipalities in which they lived and where they were subsequently arrested. The ringleader is the only one of the four detainees who was denied bail and remains in detention after being handed over to the Investigating Court number 2 of Torrevieja.
“Operation Topila” was launched last February following the seizure of more than two kilograms of marijuana at the Barajas airport in two postal packages sent from Orihuela Costa and San Miguel de Salinas.
Customs officers detected the suspicious packages destined for Ireland and the Judicial Police teams of Pilar de la Horadada and Torrevieja began to take steps to identify those responsible for the shipments.
While the investigations were progressing, another drug shipment was intercepted at the airport. A British citizen, and a Romanian woman who was helping, both from Orihuela Costa were identified. Both also had police records for other crimes, according to the Civil Guard.
In March there was an incident at a petrol station in the town of Rivas Vaciamadrid (Madrid) where a Civil Guard patrol was preparing to talk to a man who was using his mobile phone despite being prohibited to do so. Believing that he was about to be arrested the man fled, jumping several over fences on to high speed train tracks before disappearing.
The fugitive left his vehicle, inside which the agents found four suitcases with 54 kilograms of marijuana.
Investigators found the man hiding at his home in San Miguel de Salinas, alongside two accomplices. The house was heavily protected, “with security cameras and three dogs, all classified as potentially dangerous,” says the Guardia Civil.
The operation was completed on May 18 and 22 with two house searches in San Miguel de Salinas and Orihuela Costa and the arrest of all the members of the gang, three British men and a Romanian woman, aged between 23 and 33 years.
All were charged with crimes against public health for drug trafficking, disobedience to law enforcement officers and belonging to a criminal group.
Officers confiscated more than 60 kilograms of marijuana buds, together with a short weapon, 490 euros in bills of various values, instruments for weighing, packaging and producing hashish oil, documentation, terminals and mobile telephony.
