A criminal group that introduced cocaine hidden in bags of dirty clothes through the Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas airport was dismantled

Agents of the Spanish Civil Guard and the National Police, in a joint operation, have dismantled a criminal group that was introducing large consignments of cocaine through the Adolfo Suárez Madrid – Barajas airport, hidden in bags of dirty clothes. In the operation, a total of 538 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride were seized and five people were arrested, two of them employees of a company that works at the airport and who were in charge of extracting the drugs.The operation began in August 2022, after the discovery of 20 kilograms of cocaine inside the bags of dirty clothes from a flight from Guayaquil (Ecuador). After that arrest, the agents focused their investigations on several employees of cleaning companies who work at the airport.

Later in April of last year, investigators detected a new shipment of 454 kilograms of cocaine hidden among the dirty clothes of a flight from the Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz (Bolivia). It should be noted that this has been the largest seizure of cocaine, to date in our country, hidden in luggage on a passenger plane.

After months of investigation, the two employees responsible for extracting the drugs from the airport were identified, taking advantage of their work in a company that works at the airport.

Hidden drugs in a restaurant 

In addition, it was found that both workers transported the drugs in a truck to a restaurant near the airport facilities, where they hid it with the complicity of the owner of the establishment.

Continuing with the investigations, the agents located the recipients of these drug shipments, the owner of the aforementioned restaurant, who led the organized group, and his collaborator, a businessman based in Fuenlabrada (Madrid), who was in charge of the distribution of drugs to different organizations dedicated to drug trafficking in Spain.

Finally, in December the agents were able to detect that the employees under investigation were accessing the airport, outside of their working hours, to extract a large number of bags of dirty clothes from a flight coming from Guayaquil (Ecuador) again, so they proceeded to the interception of the truck at the airport exit, finding 62,784 kilograms of cocaine hidden in the bags of dirty clothes inside.

As a result of this intervention, eight house searches were carried out in the Community of Madrid, including in the restaurant where the drugs were presumably hidden behind the caches. More than 30,000 euros in cash, 1,125 grams of cocaine, three short firearms with various ammunition, an extendable defense, seven high-end vehicles, five GPS beacons, ten mobile devices, two frequency jammers, three vests were seized. bulletproof vest, a National Police vest, a money counting machine and seven high-end watches, in addition to various documentation related to the case.

The detainees are four men and one woman, who are charged with the crimes of drug trafficking, criminal group and money laundering. After being brought to justice, four of them were imprisoned and another was released with charges.