Cops bust multi-million drug smuggling gang in joint Spanish raid
An organised drug gang with links to football hooligans has been busted in a joint Polish-Spanish operation.
A special task force set up to investigate the gang carried out simultaneous raids in Spain’s Valencia and three regions across Poland, the Central Bureau of Investigation reported Monday.
In Poland, heavily-armed officers were joined by the border guard where they seized four other gang members.
In Spain they seized two cannabis plantations with 1,400 bushes, along with drugs and real estate worth 22 million PLN, including luxury villas.
Five men were arrested.
According to investigators, the group which has been operating since 2016 may have smuggled as much as 1.2 tonnes of marijuana worth almost PLN 24 million (EUR 5.3 million) from Spain into Poland as well as Italy, Belgium, Germany and the UK.
In Poland, heavily-armed officers and border guards arrested four people in raids in Małopolskie, Śląskie and Dolnośląskie, seizing nearly half a million PLN of drugs, 300,000 PLN and close to 9,500 EUR.
According to investigators, the group which has been operating since 2016 may have smuggled as much as 1.2 tonnes of marijuana worth almost PLN 24 million (EUR 5.3 million) from Spain into Poland as well as Italy, Belgium, Germany and the UK.
Investigators said that three of the men arrested in Spain were wanted under a European Arrest Warrant.
Officers also seized 300,000 PLN and close to 9,500 EUR in cash.
Seven members of the gang are known to be associated with Kraków hooligan gangs.
The Poles, aged between 30 and 45, are now facing up to 15 years in jail, with two of them being tried in Spain.
Police said the operation was ongoing and that further arrests have not been ruled out.
