Police bust Spain's largest cannabis smuggling ring

Police in Spain on Thursday claimed to have busted the largest cannabis smuggling ring in the country as part of a large-scale operation stretching back to early 2016 and leading to the arrest of 19 people -- although the ringleader evaded capture.

Police units raided suspected members of the group and confiscated 13 tonnes of cannabis resin, three heavy firearms, three pistols, 20,000 euros ($21,800) in cash and four high-performance all terrain vehicles which had been stolen, Efe news reported.

Authorities also seized six properties with a combined value of 700,000 euros in the coastal towns of Algeciras and La Linea de la Concepcion, located near the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.

The group's ringleader, identified as Abdellah el Haj, a Moroccan man in his 30s and better known as "Messi", fled to Morocco in January, allegedly fearing that police were trying to track him down.

However two months later, he returned to Spain using one of the criminal group's boats to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in order to see a performance by a famous Algerian singer at a venue in Algeciras.

Police tracked the movements of the trafficking ring for months and discovered that they were using speed boats to smuggle large quantities of cannabis resin, up to eight tonnes a night, into Spain from Morocco.

The group had its headquarters in the Campo de Gibraltar, the area of southern Andalusia that backs onto Spain's most southern point.

--IANS

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