DrugsNewsOrganised Crime

Dismantled in the Canary Islands a criminal organization belonging to the dangerous mafia of the Skaljari Clan of Montenegro

 Agents of the Spanish Civil Guard and National Police have dismantled a criminal organization based in the Canary Islands. The four detainees are members of the Skaljari Clan, the dangerous drug trafficking mafia originally from Montenegro, known for its violence.

The criminal network had established a channel for the introduction of cocaine in the Canary Islands, which it collected in rented houses in luxury residential units. The members of the group went completely unnoticed, and from these houses they proceeded to distribute the narcotic substances to local organizations.

Investigators detected in November how members of the organization handed over 250,000 and 155,000 euros in cash respectively to third parties on different days, with the purpose of removing said money from the Canary Islands and introducing it into the legal market. 

After an arduous investigation, it was possible to detect an alleged transport of narcotic substances that started from the south of Tenerife. Once the two vehicles that participated in it had been identified, it was found that 70 kilograms of cocaine were being transported, for which the two drivers were arrested. 

The police investigations led the agents to a property located in Costa Adeje, where a third member of the organization was arrested, who was currently guarding the rest of the drug. In the records carried out on Gran Canaria and Tenerife, another 338 kilograms of cocaine were found, in addition to 413,000 euros.  The final result obtained after the arrests and house searches translates into the apprehension of 408 kilograms of cocaine, the intervention of almost half a million euros in cash, a vehicle, a yacht-type boat, 12 encrypted telephones, electronic security devices, machines banknote counters and vacuum packers, as well as various tools and documentation related to criminal activities. 

The operation has been jointly developed by four groups from the Canary Islands specialized in the fight against delinquency and organized crime, the EDOA of the Comandancia de Tenerife and ECO de Canarias by the Civil Guard; UDYCO of the Provincial Police Station of Las Palmas and UDYCO of the Provincial Police Station of Tenerife by the National Police. Likewise, the investigation team had the support of the UDYCO Central of the National Police and the Technical Unit of the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard, experts in the analysis of crime in the Balkans, of the EUROPOL agency, of the Interior Attaché of the Embassy of Spain in Belgrade (Serbia), police authorities of Albania and the police authorities of Montenegro.