The National Police has dismantled in Algeciras (Cádiz) an organization that introduced large quantities of hashish from Morocco into Spain using ‘narco drones’ manufactured by hand in Ukraine and that had the capacity to carry packages weighing about 10 kilos.
After an investigation that began this year, the Police have arrested ten people linked to this network in the Campo de Gibraltar region of Cadiz and in Marbella (Málaga), seven of whom have already been imprisoned, according to EFE.
The ‘narcodrones’, with the capacity to transport more than 10 kilos of hashish on each flight and with sufficient autonomy to cross the Strait, were manufactured in Ukraine by hand and, later, transported by road to the south of Spain. This news has been echoed by the British media which has described this form of smuggling as “new” and “scandalous.”
The drones were operated by individuals from Eastern European countries who reached agreements with local criminal organizations based in the area of Campo de Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol, to make this air transport service for narcotics available to them.
During the investigation it was found how an organization had tried to send up to a thousand kilos of hashish using this method. In a press conference held in Algeciras (Cádiz), the police officials of the so-called Operation Cyclone explained that the organization was led by a man of Ukrainian nationality, an expert in the use and manufacture of fixed-wing aircraft.
The chassis of these unmanned aircraft, which look like model airplanes, is composed mainly of cork and wood. They have a battery with enough autonomy to cross the Strait, round trip, without landing, with more than ten kilos of hashish.
Between five and ten flights in one night
Since the investigation began in January of this year, the Police estimate that the organization would have introduced around a ton of hashish using this method. On days with favorable weather conditions, those responsible for the operation have explained, they could carry out five to ten flights in one night.
Despite this volume of trafficking, the agents have only seized 30 kilos of hashish that had been transported on one of those trips. The drone, with the drugs in the lower part of the aircraft, was sent from Morocco to a rural area of Algeciras that is difficult to access, where it dropped the merchandise. Later it was picked up on foot by members of the organization.
On the few occasions when it was necessary for the drone to land, these people were in charge of preparing its takeoff so that the device could take the flight back to Morocco.
In this operation, ten people of Spanish, Moroccan and Ukrainian nationalities have been arrested, seven of whom have already been imprisoned, after being placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court number 5 of Algeciras.
Six searches have been carried out in Algeciras and Marbella, in an investigation that has had the collaboration of Europol, as well as the police authorities of Ukraine and Poland. Three aircraft have been seized, one of them in the construction phase, as well as devices for remote control, tools for repair and significant amounts of cash.
It is not the first time that drug traffickers use unmanned means
The head of the Algeciras Police Station, Francisco Javier López Matesanz, has highlighted as a novelty in this operation the ‘modus operandi’ of the network, with the use of fixed-wing drones for the first time by drug trafficking organizations in the area. .
Furthermore, these are hand-made drones, which have not been acquired on the market or stolen as had been detected in previous investigations. It is not the first time that drug trafficking networks in the area use unmanned means of transport since in 2022 an unmanned ‘narco-submarine’ was already intercepted.
In 2021, its use for hashish trafficking was detected in Ceuta and Morocco. In 2022 and 2023, different drones used to introduce drugs into the Botafuegos prison, in Algeciras, were intercepted.
The main commissioner of the province of Cádiz of the National Police, Francisco Javier Vidal, has stressed that they have been carrying out “very brilliant” operations for a number of years in the fight against drug trafficking, something that makes the gangs use increasingly more methods. complex.
