A coordinated operation of the National Police and the Security Forces of Lithuania and Ireland has allowed nine alleged members of the Tomas Samoska Lithuanian clan to be stopped in the three countries, considered. The Vilna authorities consider this criminal organization responsible for trying to introduce the greatest cocaine stash in history in Europe: hidden in five containers with construction material from Paraguay.
Of those arrested in the operation, developed on June 8, only one has been captured in Spain. This is Andras Samoska, son of the leader of the organization and who allegedly acted as a lieutenant of his father. The Organized Drug and Crime Unit (UDYCO) of the National Police attributes a relevant role in the organization of its parent when considering the alleged responsible for organizing from Orihuela (Alicante, 85,600 inhabitants) the purchase and introduction in the continent of cocaine from South America, a hashish originally from Morocco and marijuana acquired in Spain, as reported on Tuesday.
Operation Kamos that has now resulted in the arrests was initiated by the Lithuanian police four years ago, shortly after the apprehension of the 16 tons of cocaine in Germany. Then, the Lithuanian police intercepted communications encrypted to a group of drug traffickers from this Baltic country in which they spoke, precisely, the loss of “16 kisses”, the term in the key they used to refer to that stash for their weight.
The investigations allowed to verify that this group came to move between four and seven tons of cocaine per month and that Spain and Ireland had as “auxiliary bases” for their drug trafficking business, although with different functions. While Spain was the place to negotiate the sale of the seasoning and transit zone of these to Europe, Ireland was the destination of the metallic benefits for later laundering, according to detail sources known to the investigation. Therefore, in 2023, the police of the three countries coordinated to jointly continue the investigations.
The surveillance of Andras Samoska allowed agents to confirm that he frequently traveled to Lithuania and other European countries, but that he had set their more or less stable residence in Spain, where he lived discreetly. To do this, it frequently changed home along the coast, always using rented floors in the name of third parties or with false documentation. In addition, the displacements were made in high displacement vehicles and was accompanied by two bodyguards, which made police follow -up difficult.
In Spain, Andras Samoska allegedly took care of controlling a logistics structure in the area of Levante, Tarragona and Malaga that allowed the organization to transport through ships, trucks and cars the drug to its final destination. Spain was also the place to which they were traveling, between large security measures and with false documentation, the main leaders of the group, including Samoska Tomas.
Here they negotiated with criminal groups of Ukraine, Armenia and other countries of the old block of the East the sale of large cargoes of cocaine, hashish and marijuana, but also used it to spend seasons. Always, yes, with a lot of discretion: they also stayed in leased homes and moved in rental vehicles that changed every few days.
The great mobility of the leaders hindered the police operation and forced to delay the arrests, since hours before when the investigators were planned to carry out the track of several of the main members of the group. This constant movement was also the one that caused that, on June 8, when days were still missing for the second date planned to proceed with the arrests, the operation had to be precipitated by having the investigators record that several of the members of the band were going to move in the following days to third countries, according to detail sources close to the investigation.
The day of the operation was made 25 housing records in the three countries, in which more than two million euros in cash, seven firearms, 103 kilos of marijuana, five high -end vehicles, geolocation devices, encrypted mobile phones and abundant documentation were intervened.
