Mocro-mafia busted as Spanish police seize 740 kilos of cocaine and €50k in cash

According to Spanish authorities, "one of the most active and powerful criminal organizations involved in international cocaine trafficking in Europe has been dismantled” as a result of the operation.

The nine suspects arrested near Madrid and Malaga include several so-called “High Value Targets” wanted by Europol, as well as well-known Dutch criminals.

The joint operation was carried out by Spanish police with the Columbian DIRAN (Anti-Narcotics Directorate) the US Homeland Security Investigations and the French and Swedish authorities.

Six people were arrested in the Aranjuez municipality of Madrid and three in Malaga. As well as the cocaine and cash, 30 mobile (mostly encrypted) telephones, five vehicles, a gun and a bulletproof vest were seized in various raids.

The investigation started in April 2021 with international police cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking involving the Colombian National Police and the US agency HIS.

According to some reports, Spanish police learned that the leaders of a prominent criminal organisation in Europe were on the coast of Malaga while further investigations revealed a network consisting of suspects from Sweden, France and England.

Gang members maintained links with both the countries of origin of the cocaine in South America and the countries of destination, mainly Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.

According to investigations, several members of the gang, some of whom have been living on the coast of Malaga for more than 20 years, had met with other suspects who also travelled to various European countries and Dubai, from where the organisation was also directed.

In November last year, the investigators observed how meetings and travel from Malaga to Madrid and back intensified as the distribution of cocaine in Spain and the rest of Europe was organised.

According to the Spanish police, after those meetings, “the active branch of the network” came into the picture, consisting of Swedish suspects who also live on the Costa del Sol.

They are considered notorious criminals in Sweden, and one of them is said to be a well-known member of the 'Dutch Mocro-mafia'.

Authorities discovered that cocaine was being distributed in two vans to a farm in Aranjuez (Madrid).

From there, they watched as one suspect entered the farm while the other remained nearby to conduct counter-surveillance work.

In the raid that followed, officers seized 740 kilos of cocaine and six suspects were arrested. At the same time, three other suspects were arrested during raids in Malaga.

According to the Spanish police, with the arrest of the nine suspects, "one of the most active and powerful criminal organizations involved in international cocaine trafficking in Europe has been dismantled."