Spanish National Police dismantles a network of drug traffickers that hid the cocaine among the acid from the batteries of mechanical bulls

24th March 202223rd March 2022 Tony Kingham

More than 60 kilograms of high-purity cocaine have been seized and nine people have been arrested, four of them of Colombian origin, in the provinces of Madrid, Ciudad Real and Valencia

The organization was based in Madrid and introduced the narcotics from South America by sea, through Spanish and Dutch ports, hiding them in containers of legal tender merchandise that they later distributed through a network of “caleteados” vehicles.

Up to four days were needed to find the complex and innovative drug concealment system, which consisted of hiding the packages in the high-voltage battery cells together with sulfuric acid and with an industrial seal, requiring the use of machinery specific for its opening, extraction and storage

03/22/22

Agents of the National Police have dismantled a network of drug traffickers that introduced cocaine into our country hidden in the acid of the batteries of industrial mechanical bulls. More than 60 kilograms of high-purity cocaine have been seized and nine people have been arrested, four of them of Colombian origin.

The criminal organization was based in Madrid and introduced the narcotics from different parts of South America by sea through Spanish and Dutch ports, hiding them in containers of legal tender merchandise that they later distributed through a network of “caleteados” cars. Up to four days were needed to find the complex and novel drug concealment system, which was none other than hiding the packages inside the high-voltage battery cells of the mechanical bulls along with sulfuric acid. In addition, this compartment had an industrial seal, which is why it was necessary to use specific machinery for its opening, extraction and storage of the acid in suitable containers.

International police cooperation against drug trafficking

The investigation began in 2017 when it was detected, thanks to international police cooperation mechanisms, the existence of a criminal organization based in Madrid and whose main activity would be aimed at drug trafficking on an international scale, through the importation of transport containers of goods by sea through the ports of Barcelona and the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

As of September 2021, the efforts of the investigators were boosted after receiving information from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of the United States of America, which pointed to the criminal organization that was the object of the investigations that began in 2017. Said information They made reference to the two main investigated, both of Colombian nationality, and who had already been the subject of investigation in previous years.

The arduous police work carried out in recent months and materialized in more than a hundred surveillances, allowed sufficient evidence to be gathered to prove the existence of a criminal network whose activity would be aimed, on the one hand, at international drug trafficking, mainly of cocaine that they would introduce into our country through containers for transporting merchandise by sea and, on the other hand, to money laundering through the use, in both criminal modalities, of mercantile companies and front companies that, with an appearance of legality, they offered them the necessary legal cover to hide the drug trade. In addition, the drug reached its final recipients through a distribution network in the Madrid area by means of “heated” vehicles.

The investigation was boosted at the end of February when the agents detected a suspicious transport from Barcelona, in which a truck was moving mechanical bulls to an industrial warehouse in the Toledo town of Madridejos, which could be used to hide cocaine.

Unprecedented and sophisticated drug concealment system

After intervening the machinery, it was transferred to the Technical Interventions Operational Group (GOIT), whose agents, despite their specialization in similar jobs, took up to four days to find the complex and innovative drug concealment system. This consisted of hiding the packages in the high-voltage battery cells of one of the mechanical bulls, sharing space with the sulfuric acid that is part of the interior of the batteries and with an industrial-type seal, which made it necessary to use machinery specific for its opening, extraction and storage of the acid in suitable containers.

The complex and sophisticated concealment system, which despite being housed in the chemical batteries allowed the normal operation of the industrial machinery, finally hid a total of 32 packages of cocaine with a total weight of 60 kilograms.

The investigation culminated with nine arrests in the provinces of Madrid, Ciudad Real and Valencia, and the intervention of a vehicle equipped with a hidden “caleta” type compartment, in the upper part of the dashboard, which housed another two and a half kilograms of cocaine, in addition to several precision scales and other tools that the organization used for distribution tasks.