The largest cocaine processing laboratory in Europe —capable of producing up to 200 kilos of narcotic substance per day— was hidden in a large chalet in a Pontevedra municipality. Away from other houses and surrounded by a large plot. There eight cooks worked - and lived in a regime of pure and hard slavery - at full capacity 24 hours a day. Seven days a week to transform the base paste into cocaine hydrochloride, ready for consumption. This was the penultimate phase, before distribution, of a chain controlled by a criminal organization that has been dismantled by the National Police with the arrest of 18 people. All have been sent by the National Court to provisional prison.
This important operation confirms what investigators have long suspected. Laboratories to process cocaine are leaving Colombia to settle in Europe. Drug traffickers save costs, processes and, most importantly, reduce risks. It is not the same to send bales of cocaine across the pond than base paste, which will later be processed for consumption, hidden in cylinders. To date, several laboratories of this type had been dismantled in Spain. But never, one of these dimensions. From the records made, the agents have seized 1,300 kilos of base paste —the largest seizure to date.
Behind it was an organization with a "high level of sophistication", whose members had a clear distribution of functions. The group of Spaniards, based in the Canary Islands and old acquaintances from the Crime and Delinquency Unit, are in charge of the bulk of the operation. They were in charge of managing the transport of the substance from Colombia to Pontevedra. Behind them were two powerful criminal organizations—one Colombian and one Mexican—that had come together to finance the lab.
On the other hand were the Mexicans from the organization, who provided the technical knowledge for the correct extraction of the coca pass, which was hidden in large stone crushing machines. The researchers place the figure of the engineer here; in charge of extracting the drug to transfer it to the laboratory, and the notary; trusted person of the Mexican international organization who was in charge of attesting to everything that happened there.
The third leg of the organization was made up of Colombians, who lived in Madrid. His fundamental task was to provide the human and chemical means for the macrolaboratory to operate. The agents detected, throughout the investigations, the arrival of six individuals of Colombian origin who were transferred to a security floor, where they withdrew their documentation and mobile phones and then took them to the laboratory in stages, to try to not arouse suspicion. But investigators were already following the band's footsteps very closely.
All members of the organization submitted their communications to a strict security protocol. For example, as highlighted by the National Police, to transfer the cocaine base from the ship —where it was extracted from the cylinders— to the laboratory —where it would be processed— the members used shuttle vehicles, carrier disguises, and Wi-Fi transmitters so as not to lose communication. during the journeys. In addition, they were all assigned a nickname, and it was completely forbidden to use their first names.
When the merchandise arrived at the laboratory, the machines began to roar. The facility had advanced air extraction systems and sophisticated equipment for refrigeration and heating of substances. All this, explains the National Police, perfectly compartmentalized into several areas to carry out the processing, separation, drying and packaging of cocaine. It had the capacity to produce up to 200 kilos a day. The financing with which he started was intended to cover the costs to produce 6,000 kilos.
After finishing the process of the first shipment of drugs, the organization began to prepare its distribution. To do this, he used a delivery van from a well-known courier company, simulating the collection of four packages. In the vehicle they managed to put 100 kilos of cocaine. That was when the agents exploited the investigation so that this huge amount of drugs did not reach the market, intercepting the van at the entrance to the Community of Madrid.
