Criminal organizations are resorting to ports to introduce trucks or vans that then follow their way to the country of destination. In just two months, the National Police has intervened almost 31 tons of this drug that entered Spain by this method. Researchers believe that the difficulties in resorting to the sea road, a more expensive method that implies and more people involved, and having accumulated cargoes in Morocco, lead drug traffickers to resume these methods as an alternative to others.
Commissioner Alberto Morales, head of the Central Narcotics Brigade of the National Police has put the Bucos operation on Tuesday, in which this September has intervened more than 11 tons of hashish in two performances with just four days apart. “They take advantage of the summer season to make mass shipments of this merchandise,” he explained the command in the Police Units of Canillas, in Madrid, where the cargo of hashish brows has been exhibited. To this operation, the greatest intervened this 2025 and the fifth in the historic of Spain are added. “All this suggests that this route has become more active,” said the commissioner.
Few melons, a lot of hashish
The thin layer of melons that covered the cargo of hashish that was intercepted in a refrigerator truck on September 10 in Malaga – 9,300 kilos of hashish was among very few fruits – shows the confidence that the organization had to be successful with the shipment, which had reached the port of Algeciras from Tangier. A few days before, on September 5, they also intervened, also on the Costa del Sol, 1,825 kilos of hidden hashish in the double background of furniture, such as Canapés, in a van.
These organizations may take 12 and 14 hours to get the drug from the country. In their journeys they make stops not to raise suspicions and also change vehicles or distribute the load in cars that run high speed highways. In the Bucos operation, the truck and the van with furniture were preceded by “shuttle vehicles” that served to monitor the merchandise and detect any police presence. “They work all kinds of substances, know schedules, parameters, frequencies and activate when they are certain when they know they can cross the territory,” the commissioner has detailed. In this case, the destiny of the drug was France, something that tells investigators the presence and participation of two people of French nationality, also detained, and who contributed “a certain guarantee” to guard the hashish. “What usually happens? That will make an intermediate stop and part of that drug is the form of payment of the organization in Spain, something that involves a national traffic,” said the narcotic chief.
The price of the last intervened cargo would exceed 19 million euros in the market. Among the ten detainees who have entered provisional prison, researchers include the presence of four Spaniards and two French with numerous background.
In their tricks, drug traffickers usually have support with people in the ports, which give them guarantees that the drug will pass the controls, but in this case, they did not work. The commissioner has highlighted the “active” and “narrow” collaboration of the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN). The investigation began in July thanks to the exchange of information with the Moroccan authorities.
The police officer has acknowledged that the fact that criminal networks are increasingly resorting to narcolanches to traffic with cocaine, a type of drug that leaves more profit margin for each operation, can be one of the elements for the reactivation of the terrestrial route to introduce the cargoes of hashish. However, he has stressed that they find it “easier” to introduce hashish in a truck to cross the border to resort to the seaway, since many elements come into play, such as transfers to the beaches, use of fast boats, displacements through the peninsula, presence of authorities in the water or scouts. “There are many reasons why it is more profitable,” he said, in addition to influencing that there is “plenty of storage” for these operations.
The last annual balance of seizures in Spain, corresponding to 2023, more than the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Interior.
