Seized 30 kilos of cocaine hidden in boxes of physalis fruit

The Spanish Civil Guard, in the so-called Physalis operation, has dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to introducing cocaine into Spain in commercial consignments of physalis fruit. In total there are seven people arrested and 30 kilos of cocaine seized.

The operation began last September when a suspicious shipment of physalis fruit from Colombia was detected. The investigations focused on the importing company, domiciled in Madrid, which was engaged in the import and subsequent sale of this merchandise.

The agents discovered that after each shipment of almost a ton of merchandise, the organization disposed of the fruit, depositing it in a rented storage room in Villaverde, to later give it away or throw it away in poor condition. They only seemed interested in the cardboard boxes that transported them and that they kept in a rented apartment in the Batán neighborhood, in Madrid, where they carried out the drug extractions.

The Civil Guard carried out several house searches in the Community of Madrid and on the Batán floor they arrested four people who were extracting the hidden cocaine from the cardboard boxes. In total, 30 kilograms of high purity cocaine, precision scales and numerous tools for handling and extracting the drug were seized in this house.

Likewise, the agents also arrested the company administrator and two other people who were in charge of receiving shipments at the airport, hiding the fruit in a storage room and transporting the boxes to Batán’s home. .

The criminal gang was led by a man of Colombian nationality, who directed and coordinated the importation of drugs into Spain from Madrid and, in turn, was responsible for the house where the cardboard boxes were hidden, where the women also lived. three other people who collaborated in the extraction of the drug.

The detainees are seven men between the ages of 23 and 51 and are accused of various crimes against public health, drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal group. After being placed at the disposal of the judicial authority, it ordered the entry into prison of six of them.