Drugs

Guardia Civil breaks up a criminal organization that transported hashish between Spain and Netherlands in boxes of garlic

The Guardia Civil, under the Garlicor operation, has broken up a criminal organization dedicated to the land transport of large amounts of hashish from Córdoba to the Netherlands. Eight people were detained of Spanish and Moroccan nationality, and 175 kilos of hashish and 61 of marijuana have been seized. The drug was transported from Córdoba to the Netherlands camouflaged inside boxes of garlic.

The investigations began last June 2019, when the Civil Guard became aware of two arrests of drugs by the Dutch authorities, of approximately 2,800 kilograms of hashish and 157 of marijuana. Subsequent investigations revealed that a criminal organization that could be related to these shipments was trying to rent warehouses in industrial estates in Córdoba, with the aim of using them to hide the drug until they were distributed.

Subsequent investigations made it possible to determine that behind these shipments was a perfectly structured criminal organization, made up of eight people with defined roles within the organization, ranging from renting warehouses to finding clients for the sale of the drug, whose leader He was a North African citizen with Dutch nationality.

The progress of the investigation allowed to find out that the organization had rented two warehouses in two industrial estates in Córdoba and to determine the modus operandi used by the organization.

The “modus operandi” used by the organization consisted of storing, handling, concealing, and preparing for shipment large quantities of hashish and marijuana that were camouflaged in boxes of garlic.

After locating the warehouses where the drug were hidden, in two industrial estates in Córdoba, they proceeded to inspect them, locating more than 175 kilograms of hashish and 61 kilograms of marijuana inside, and two members of the organization in charge of guarding, hiding and preparing for shipment the drug in boxes of garlic, which were detained.

Subsequently, two homes were searched in Benalmádena (Málaga), where €3,000 was discovered, possibly as a result of the sale of the drug. Likewise, during the development of the operation, another €1,970 has been intervened in fractional tickets and 3 vehicles.