• The arrests include the main leaders of the criminal network, which introduced large quantities of cocaine into Catalonia in jam drums.

• More than 100 kilos of cocaine seized, with a value on the illicit market of more than 6 million euros

• The criminal organization managed a network of flats from Barcelona where the drugs were sold and distributed, and had branches in Colombia, from where they imported cocaine shipments.

• The network had people who delivered the drugs to homes on the direct orders of the buyer, or by order of the leaders of the organization.

• In addition to the drug trade, the main suspects also involved robberies of jewelry stores and "narco-assaults"

• Precautionary measures have been adopted on 20 properties, 36 bank accounts and 16 vehicles

July 19, 2024.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, together with agents of the Generalitat Police - Mossos de Esquadra of the Criminal Investigation Division, has dismantled an international criminal organization specialized in cocaine trafficking, which was imported from Medellín (Colombia) to Barcelona. The investigation, overseen by Barcelona's 24th Court of Instruction, has led to the arrest of 40 people, including the main leaders of the criminal network, and the seizure of more than 100 kilos of cocaine, with a value on the illicit market of more than 6 million euros.

Of all the drugs seized, the most notable was the latest seizure, which was made in Colombia on July 8 with the collaboration of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office against Drug Trafficking and the Anti-Narcotics Police of this country. That day, a shipment of 40 kilos of cocaine was intercepted near Medellín that was going to be transported to Barcelona to be distributed by drug traffickers at the different points of sale that the organization controlled in the city.

The investigation began at the end of May 2022, in Sabadell, when at unsociable hours a group of people entered the warehouse of a company specialising in logistics and transport and forced open four drums containing jam. Initially, only damage was observed on the drums and the option of robbery from the company was ruled out, but immediately, when the manipulations carried out inside the metal barrels were verified, and that these came from Medellín, it was suspected that there could be cocaine hidden inside the jam.

This was the beginning of a long and complex investigation focused on a criminal network that aimed to introduce large quantities of cocaine into Catalonia using this transport system.

Network installed in Barcelona, with international connections

This investigation, carried out by the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Central Area of Organized Crime of the DIC, converged with another that the DIC Barcelona had started in July 2022 on different points of sale located in the Barceloneta neighborhood.

The people who controlled and directed them obtained cocaine from different suppliers and had also invested in future importation of this drug from South America to supply their distribution points. The peculiarity of these two investigations, in their initial phase, was that the person responsible for planning, managing and executing the import, known as 'el Barbas', was identified through different means.

Thus, following the first steps taken regarding the international import discovered in Sabadell, three other similar shipments of jam from Colombia were also detected, carried out by the same suspects, and for which different companies had been used in order to mask the real identity of the people behind the plot. Analysis of these shipments revealed that the oldest import was from 2019, a single drum, followed by two more in 2020, three in 2021 and the four drums from Sabadell in 2022.

The noose tightens

They made one shipment per year, and in 2023 they tried to do it again, but in this case the arrest in April of that year in Barcelona of one of the import managers when he was carrying out a cocaine transaction led the criminal network to stop the new drug shipment. Months later they started from scratch, with new companies at origin and destination, in this case in Colombia and Portugal.

Complications arose again in February of this year, when they already had drums ready to be shipped to Europe, and believing that they would not pass customs controls to South America, those under investigation decided to abandon the shipment and took it to a warehouse in Sabaneta (Medellín). Exporters recovered part of their stock, and the rest remained at that point until July 8 of this year.

That day, within the framework of the investigation, and in collaboration with the National Police and its links in Colombia, the Anti-Narcotics Police of this country, complying with the directives of its Prosecutor's Office and the International Rogatory Commission sent from the Investigative Court number 24 of Barcelona, proceeded to open these drums. Inside they found 40 kilos of cocaine, ten in each drum.

Drugs thrown from a car during a police chase

The part of the investigation that began in Barcelona was directed towards a criminal organisation formed mainly by a local family clan that owned and controlled various flats as sales points, mainly in the Barceloneta neighbourhood, but also in other districts, such as Horta-Guinardó. The leaders of the network were two siblings, a man and a woman, and their respective partners, who maintained contact with Colombia. Other members included ex-partners, siblings and children.

In addition, the organisation had a number of workers whose job was to sell drugs at home - 'riders' in slang - who receive the order directly from the buyer, or by order of the organisation's leaders, and travel to the agreed point to deliver the narcotic.

In October 2022, a police operation was carried out where one of the leaders of the organization, along with his partner, were detected while they were transporting cocaine. Several uniformed police units tried to stop them, and they fled through the streets of Barcelona, throwing packets of drugs out of the vehicle's windows.

They were finally arrested and 47 kilos of cocaine were seized. The arrested man, who was one of the leaders of the organisation, is currently in a penitentiary, while his partner, who was a minor at the time, was released.

Drug trafficking, robberies of jewelry stores and "narco-assaults"

The investigation revealed that the main suspects were not only involved in obtaining narcotic substances for distribution and final sale. They also committed robberies of jewelry stores and "narco-assaults"; That is, violent robberies of other traffickers, posing as police officers and taking their merchandise.

The person in charge of managing and diversifying the criminal activity was one of the leaders of the organisation, who in July last year was arrested, along with his partner, also responsible for the organisation, when he was transporting nearly 10 kilos of cocaine to one of the addresses they had in Riells i Viabrea (Girona), and which they used as a hiding place. This address was used to store large shipments of drugs and from here they were extracted to supply the different points of sale. For this crime he was sentenced to more than six years in prison, which he is already serving.

During the investigation, the different points of sale managed by the criminal network were located, as well as the identities of the people in charge of the final sale. But, at the same time, the drug suppliers of the organization itself were identified and at this point two people were identified who had direct contact with a source in Colombia.

Deployment of 250 troops to neutralize the criminal organization

Last Wednesday, July 3, in coordination with the Court and the Prosecutor's Office, and with a deployment of more than 250 police officers, a device was carried out to carry out 20 raids and searches in Barcelona capital, Vacarisses (Barcelona), Riells i Viabrea and Salamanca, and at the same time arrest those involved in the plot.

As a result of the police operation, 38 people were arrested and various highly fragmented narcotic substances were seized, ready to be supplied from the dismantled sales points, as well as other rock fragments.

The drugs seized were cocaine (about four kilos in gross weight), marijuana (about nine kilos in gross weight), hashish (three kilos), ketamine (178.7 grams), methamphetamine (128 grams), crystal (174 grams) and heroin (nine grams). Specifically for the treatment, adulteration and preparation of cocaine, a small hiding place with chemicals and utensils for cutting and manufacturing the aforementioned drug was found in one of the properties that were seized.

161,900 euros in cash were also seized from all the searches, a 20-gram pure gold bar, six firearms (three pistols, a revolver and two shotguns – one of which was sawed off), as well as a large amount of ammunition, and five vehicles and two motorcycles belonging to those under investigation were seized. In addition, computer documentation was found relating to cocaine imports carried out by the dismantled network.

Economic research

Economic researchers have identified numerous asset transactions, mainly property and vehicle purchases, over the past six years. As a result of this investigation focused on money laundering from a crime against public health, two of the main suspects and their relatives were arrested, including a renowned psychologist who acted as the main front man, and five other people for their participation in various money laundering operations.

The total amount of money laundering operations exceeds 1.3 million euros, in which a significant volume of cash has been identified used to carry out transactions of purchase and sale of movable and immovable property.

During the course of the operation, investigators from the Central Area of Economic Crimes executed economic and property measures on some of those investigated. The economic investigation led to the blocking and adoption of precautionary measures on 20 properties, 36 bank accounts and 16 vehicles.