The Civil Guard has arrested nine alleged members of a criminal organization that used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, also known as drones) that they had manually modified to transport hashish from Morocco, the Armed Institute reported on Wednesday. The base of operations for the detainees – who were of Russian, Ukrainian and Latvian nationalities – was in the city of Alcalá de los Gazoles (5,200 inhabitants) in Cádiz (5,200 inhabitants), from where they set off at dawn on air vehicles to cross the strait under the cover of darkness and load them with drugs in the African country. Returning to the peninsula, the drones released the parcels containing the drugs, and once on the ground, their location was determined by members of the organization thanks to the use of geolocation systems, audio signals, fluorescent lights and night viewing devices. The operation included eight ready-to-use drones and 10 more that will be adapted for this job.
The operation, called Operation Roche, began after the Civil Guard, in cooperation with the Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie, discovered unidentified drones flying between the two countries in the summer of last year. In all cases, they were called fixed-wing drones capable of traveling distances of more than 200 kilometers. Investigations revealed that the detainees now launched the devices – up to twelve at a time – from a remote area in the municipality of Alcalá de los Gazoles. They did this at dawn to take advantage of poor visibility. Thus, on days of weak winds, the group launched continuous flights between Morocco and the Cádiz province, allowing it to bring in up to 200 kilograms of hashish in one night.
Once loaded with drugs in Morocco, the sugar factories began their return journey. The detainees had now installed a drone mechanism to release the parcels mid-flight when they arrived at the scheduled collection area, usually in the area of Vejer de la Frontera and Tarifa. Members of the organization tasked with recovering the cannabis then used night vision goggles to quickly locate the packages, to which they attached fluorescent light elements. The drugs were later transported to the rented country houses that served as… Day care (In police parlance, places where drugs are hidden) until their subsequent distribution. Meanwhile, the drones continued their flight to land back at the starting point.
The investigation revealed that the organization obtained the planes from Chinese companies, then modified them in its own workshop “to provide them with greater autonomy, resistance and loading capacity,” the Civil Guard highlighted in a memorandum. To do this, they “adapted the electronic systems and reinforced the fuselage with lightweight materials” until they came up with “unique and highly efficient models for transporting drugs,” he adds. At the time of the arrest, besides eight drones already modified and in use, agents found another 10 new drones, some still in their original packaging, which were supposed to expand the fleet used for trafficking.
During the investigation, agents were able to intercept a car belonging to the organization on October 22 after a chase in which a number of members were injured. Inside the car, the Civil Guard seized 57.2 kilograms of hashish that was brought into Spain using these drones. Finally, last Monday, investigators carried out a large-scale operation that included, in addition to the arrest of eight other people, five searches in the cities of Alcalá de los Gasoles, Vejer de la Frontera, Algeciras and San Roque. In addition to the drones and the workshop, 150 kilograms of hashish and 320,000 euros in cash were seized. The European Union Police Cooperation Agency (Europol) participated in the investigation conducted by the Investigative Court No. 4 in Algeciras and the Anti-Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office in Campo Gibraltar.
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