The judge of the National Court investigating the former head of the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) Óscar Sánchez, who was found close to 20 million euros trapped in his house, has sent the alleged leader of the drug trafficking plot, Ignacio Torán, to provisional prison, according to legal sources consulted by EL PAÍS.
Torán was released last April after the Criminal Chamber of the National Court recognized that his rights had been violated for not providing his defense with “essential elements” of the case necessary to challenge the deprivation of liberty. However, last Friday the instructor agreed to his judicial detention pending the hearing this Monday, in which he was finally agreed to be placed in provisional prison due to flight risk.
The Internal Affairs Unit, in its reports, points to , which would lead him to also have a role as “main interlocutor” for Sánchez, whom it refers to as ‘The Friend’. Investigators believe that the plot managed to introduce at least 39 containers with more than 73 tons of cocaine, with a market value of more than 2.5 billion euros.
In addition, Internal Affairs reports highlight Torán’s international “connections,” specifically “with major drug traffickers who evade justice in various countries as residents of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.” One of them would be the alleged boss Alejandro Salgado Vega, ‘El Tigre’. “I have the power,” Torán boasted, according to communications reflected in National Police reports.
