a month ago they were narcodrones in Cadiz. Weeks later, narcohelicopters in Almeria. The drug trafficking sector – 0.5% of Spanish GDP, according to the INE – is refining, innovating and moving forward. Always at the forefront, it invests in R&D&I because it suits the profession.
Two criminal organizations were recently dismantled by the Civil Guard, revealing a change of routetowards Almería, and the use of drones with sufficient autonomy to cross the strait.
The objective is always the same: to transport hashish, even if the experts in the fight against drug trafficking consulted by this newspaper do not exclude that they could already transport cocaine by air.
They use as an aerial highway the two gray areas not covered by radar. One, towards the Campo de Gibraltar; the other, towards Almería.
To understand this, it must be noted that there are two types of radars. THE PSR or Primarywho are those who are capable of giving an image of the coverage for altitudes below 150 feetor approximately 50 meters. They send out an electromagnetic wave that bounces off the aircraft in flight, detects it and returns to the radar.
Then there is the SSR or Secondary. They are also called dependent, because they depend on the response of the aircraft. It is used by civil aviation. Under normal circumstances, a helicopter carries its corresponding tanswering machine activated to answer. Those of drug traffickers keep it off, to avoid detection.
In the Strait and Almería area there are SSR radars. In fact, all Spanish airspace is controlled. There are also PSRs. One is that of Air Surveillance Squadron No. 11 (EVA 11)on a thousand-meter-high summit in the Alcornocales Natural Park.
Its radar is called “Lanza 3D” and has a range of 430 kilometers. It belongs to the Air and Space Force and its use is strictly intended for Defense.
In Gibraltar there are two: a PSR (primary) and another SSR (secondary), installed by the RAF (the British Royal Air Force) at the top of the Rock in 2022.
There are therefore no specific radars dedicated to detecting this phenomenon. new modus operandi of the drug trafficker in the part which covers the strait and reaches the Campo de Gibraltar. Not in Almería either.
In a circle, the area of southern Spain covered by primary radars or PSR.
AIP-Enaire
These two corridors are opportunities for drug traffickers: narco-drones sneak in, but also narco-helicopters, when they fly at low altitude and with their transponders turned off.
A helicopter with its transponder turned off does not send a response signal. Thus, it is impossible for an air traffic controller to know that there is a plane in flight.
The only way to detect them is to use the PSR radar with low altitude scans, several air navigation expert sources explain to this newspaper. Also, on the civilian side no detection capability in this section.
The type of detection to locate narcodrones and helicopters is possible with primary radar, because the collaboration of aircraft is not necessary. The problem is that in the AIP, which is the Aeronautical Information Portalit is obvious that the coverage of the PSR does not cover either the Strait area or the coast of Almeria.
The two operations
A few days ago, the Civil Guard arrested 6 people in Almería. They formed a criminal group that smuggled hashish from Morocco using helicopters.
Each trip meant between 500 and 900 kilos of drugswhich were unloaded in Almería and then distributed by land to Malaga, Almería and Murcia, hiding the bales in warehouses or farms.
The operation, called “Giro”, was detected by the Armed Institute when it confirmed suspicious movements between Malaga and Almería, in the early hours of the morning, of several of its members. They already had them in their sights, well They worked closely with other people who trafficked hashish from Morocco.
The drug clan used helicopters of different categories. The plane, coming from Morocco, landed in sparsely populated areas of the province of Almería, where several people were waiting. download hashish and we take him in vans to the different nurseries.
The helicopters were hidden in warehouses and farms from Almería and Murcia awaiting the next shipments. After unloading and storing the drugs, it was transported by road to other European countries, such as Sweden or Belgium.
Image of the narcohelicopter seized from a farm in Níjar (Almería).
Civil Guard
It was in Níjar (Almeria) that, after a search of a farm, the Beneméritas found 25 bales of hashish weighing 657 kilos. Then, five more searches were carried out in Malaga, Almería and Murcia where, among other things, one of the helicopters used, five long guns, 2,900 euros in cash and several vehicles were seized.
The use of helicopters is not new in Cádiz. In fact, it works the same way. The helicopters arrive, drop off the goods in one place and hide in another. “In the Sierra de Cádiz there are many in addition to drones. And now, with cocaine, even more.”
What is new is the use of drones to cross the strait. In November, the Civil Guard dismantled another criminal group that was trafficking hashish.
Operation “Hive” led to the arrest of 9 people, dedicated to the transport of hashish from Morocco. They did it through homemade narcodroneswhich they assembled themselves, and which were capable of flying at distances of 200 kilometers, always at dawn. Enough to cross the strait and return.
In fact, they had a narcoflotilla capable of transporting more than 200 kilos of hashish per night. Eight drones were intercepted assembled and improved by handready for use in drug trafficking and ten more awaiting assembly.
In fact, the early morning cargo was seized. Around 210 kilos of hashish, and also 320,000 euros in cash. The place where they were arrested with the drones? A farm in Alcalá de Los Gazulesin the same municipal area where the Air Force No. 11 Aerial Surveillance Squadron is located.
One of the drug drones seized in Alcalá de los Gazules.
Civil Guard
They flew in groups of ten simultaneously, leaving Spain empty and returning loaded with drugs.
The drones took off from the same location where the organization had an operations center in a house. There they stored the equipment and the used drones were manufactured, assembled and repaired in a sophisticated workshop.
On the return trip, the drones air-dropped the cargo in the Vejer de la Frontera and Tarifa region. Published packages were attached fluorescent lamps and a remote-controlled radio frequency tracking system that emitted sound signals when nearby.
As it was dark, those responsible for collecting the packages used night vision devices to find them more easily. The drones did not land: they returned to their base in Alcalá de Los Gazules.
The discovery even surprised the Civil Guard, since the organization was able to develop “artisanal devices for great autonomy, precision and load capacityfar superior to conventional economic models.
Both operations benefited from the collaboration of the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie. Expert sources in investigations against drug trafficking by the Civil Guard specify that Morocco, “when it wants, collaborates with us. A lot and well. It has a technological system which is brutal. “They have everything under control.”
Permissions
Sources linked to drug trafficking investigations at the Armed Institute acknowledge that does not have technical capacity to control these narco flights. “We have a helicopter, radars and the Pegasus group, but not at the army level.”
They fly at very low altitude, at a slow speed, which is not that of a military flight, and that is why they go unnoticed. “They could control them, but it depends above” they specify.
It is also said that in Tarifa there is the El Bujeo barracks, an installation of the Costa Artillery Regiment No. 4. “That is why they have inhibitors which are military, just as there are in all areas near airports which are subject to special surveillance.
Detection of this type of aircraft is “complicated”. To receive alerts on these flights “you have to ask at the Alcalá de los Gazules military base. » It is the base which captures “everything that passes through the strait”.
If they see a drone “and if they consider that it is not dangerous, they let it pass or warn us, if we have previously requested it”, they specify. He refers to surveys in which they specified control a time slot which allows them to establish a flight model to be able to intercept it on the ground.
They consider it “common” because “they are not security forces, they are defense forces and that is what the government does not want, that they mix. Sometimes we do not understand it, because it is air defense”.
Experts in avionics and aerial navigation systems believe that while it is difficult to detect a helicopter, a drone is much more difficult. They indicate that currently this can be done radio frequency readingsas they do in the war in Ukraine, but do not inhibit them if they are in areas where they can interfere with other signals.
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