The complex operation, which was carried out for more than a year and recently ended, allowed the second group of organized crime in Madrid, subordinate to the Higher Police Headquarters, to verify that Venezuela is changing from being a drug exporter to a drug importer. Specifically, materials … This is due, as research sources explain, to the economic bloc in which the Bolivarian dictatorship is immersed.
It was a mafia made up of people from that country, Colombia and Spaniards, between the ages of 18 and 30, dedicated to the surreptitious transportation by plane of substances such as MDMA (ecstasy), Tosi or pink cocaine (which is not even cocaine, but a mixture of ecstasy with traces of ketamine, for a high and low effect) and real cocaine, according to case report sources.
In addition to Venezuela, the country to which the two shipments uncovered in the operation were headed, there was another shipment heading to Chile; A shipment of just over 700 grams of cocaine destined for Australia was also found. Investigators explain to the ABC that this country is one of the most complex countries for drug traffickers to operate in, since bringing in drugs from abroad is extremely difficult. So what they were doing was a test.
One of the leaders of this criminal organization is a Venezuelan who directed the shipments from the Soto del Real prison. Informants explained that he communicated with the rest of the mafia members and gave them instructions, while he was awaiting extradition to his country for committing very similar crimes.
As for concealment methods, they were extremely ingenious. They place MDMA pills and cause coughs in cat scratching posts and beds; As well as in the hollow internal parts of shock absorbers; In chocolate, one of the shipments went inside a box containing a mobile swimming pool, hence the name of the operation.
The investigation began in August last year, when agents intercepted a package from a logistics company bound for Venezuela. This was the inflatable pool, in which they hid 460 ecstasy pills, also in the shape of a rock. The original substance is suspected to have come from the Netherlands, a region where synthetic drug “laboratories” have always been widespread, although they later had large sales outlets in Spain.
They learned that their criminal activity dates back to 2023 and they are suspected of shipping a weekly shipment. As for air transport, it is much less in quantity than when working with sea containers, where tons of drugs are transported.
The researchers explained how they used a grinding machine, sometimes manipulated for this purpose, to make the tiny pink ecstasy pills. They also manipulated tosi, cocaine and other substances. Several long and short pneumatic weapons were found inside, which had not been tampered with. In their opinion, they were asked to scare away possible “coups” (robberies) by other drug traffickers. They also confiscated 11,000 pills, sunglasses, ecstasy pills, and 11,000 euros…
Workshop in Collado Mediano
The base of operations, as a “kindergarten”, was at Collado Mediodo. But the bulk of the gang resided between Puente de Vallecas and El Caniveral (Vicalfaro). In addition, nine searches were carried out, all in the Madrid area, except one in Peñiscola (Alicante). It was carried out on October 7, with prior judicial permission.
During this year of investigation, two more parcels were seized bound for Chile, with another 5,000 pills, and one for Australia, with 257 grams of cocaine. Also found were two vehicles, a covered machine, ten modified shock absorbers to conceal materials, handwritten notebooks, seven watches and jewellery.
The 14 detainees in Operation Paul are accused of crimes related to membership in a criminal organization and against public health. The same sources reported that four of them were imprisoned. However, the investigation remains open and the National Police does not rule out the possibility of new arrests. For the latter, it is necessary to trace and analyze the eighteen mobile phones seized from the accused. From there, more names and relationships with these or other criminal groups may emerge.