26 Drug Traffickers Arrested and Two Cocaine Networks Dismantled Between Alicante and Albacete

Police crackdown on drug trafficking with 26 arrests and two dismantled criminal organizations that moved large quantities of cocaine between Alicante and Albacete. One of the arrested is linked to the burning of several vehicles of relatives and officials in Aspe, according to the National Police.

The anti-drug operation began last January, when the police received anonymous reports through various communication channels about several members of the same family clan dedicated to selling narcotics. The information received indicated that this gang operated in a neighborhood of Albacete, where they had several social housing units used as 'chiringuitos' for selling cocaine and hashish.

As the investigation progressed, the 'modus operandi' of the illicit network was uncovered. First, a couple residing in a town in Albacete traveled daily to a neighborhood in the capital to oversee drug distribution activities.

Each member of the family clan had an assigned role: the couple's children controlled the sales points, the women attracted customers and warned of police presence, and the nephews attended to the customers to whom they supplied the drugs. As a security measure, they frequently changed the location where they conducted drug sales.

In September, police officers detected several drug supplies carried out by members of a criminal organization based in the province of Alicante, whose leader is well-known to the police due to numerous drug trafficking records.

Investigators found that large quantities of cocaine were transported to the city of Albacete in a discreet vehicle equipped with a 'stash' to hide the drugs. This car was driven by a 64-year-old man with no police record. On October 6, the police arrested him as he was about to deliver half a kilo of 'coke' to the criminal organization in Albacete.

This arrest led to a police operation in different towns in the provinces of Badajoz, Alicante, and Albacete, where 25 home searches and 26 arrests were carried out, all belonging to both criminal organizations and their collaborators.

In the police actions carried out by agents assigned to the Provincial Police Stations of Albacete, Alicante, and Badajoz, 19,070 grams of cocaine, 1,500 grams of marijuana, 280 grams of hashish, 365,000 euros in cash, a 9 mm Parabellum pistol, 15 precision scales, 2 luxury vehicles, numerous jewels, and all kinds of effects and instruments used for the dosing and distribution of narcotics were seized.

This police action has managed to dismantle nine drug sales points in the city of Albacete, from where cocaine was distributed in significant quantities to different areas of the national territory. The investigation was carried out jointly between the Provincial Police Stations of Albacete, Alicante, and the Organized Crime Group of Alicante, with the collaboration of different police units of the Extremadura Superior Police Headquarters.