Four Irish nationals arrested in Spain's Costa Blanca over smuggling cocaine
Natalia Penza
Four Irish nationals have been arrested on the Costa Blanca after police there smashed a gang smuggling cocaine and hashish hidden in industrial machinery into the UK and Ireland from Spain.
Nearly 85 kilos of cocaine was seized in the operation, camouflaged inside a drilling machine due to be shipped to Ireland by a firm in the small town of Monovar about a 35-minute drive inland from Alicante.
Police sources say another 340 kilos of cannabis resin linked to the gang and sent via a company in the south-eastern Spanish province of Murcia was discovered at French customs.
Respected local paper Informacion said two guns were also seized.
The arrests took place in Orihuela Costa and San Miguel de Salinas on the Costa Blanca.
The four suspects, who have not been named, were freed on bail pending an ongoing criminal probe after appearing in court.
The Civil Guard, the police force which led the investigation resulting in the arrests, has yet to make any official comment.
Officers are not expected to make any formal comment until they rule the operation against the gang has concluded. Further arrests have not been ruled out.
Local reports said the start point for the investigation was on June 2nd when a transport firm based in the province of Murcia reported the arrest of one of its drivers in France a few days earlier following the discovery of the cannabis resin on board his Liverpool-bound lorry.
A Murcia court reportedly authorised detectives to put trackers on the company’s vehicles.
The arrests were made after one of the suspects dropped off the industrial drilling machine due to be shipped to Dublin and police discovered the cocaine inside.
Spanish investigators are said to have removed the cocaine and allowed the drilling machine to be sent to Ireland on June 13th so counterparts so gardaí could try to identify the people receiving the delivery.
It was not immediately clear this morning if further arrests had taken place in Ireland.
In March a Spanish-Irish investigation into the Dublin gang known as The Family resulted in the seizure of drugs valued at around €30 million and the arrests of 20 people.
Spanish cops said at the time the criminals hid the drugs in secret compartments in vehicles they fitted out with the narcotics at a warehouse on an industrial estate in the east coast Spanish city of Castellon between Barcelona and Valencia.
More than 300 kilos of cocaine and 220 kilos of marihuana were seized in the operation according to Spanish police.
Thirteen of the 20 detentions took place in Spain according to police there and the other seven in Ireland. The suspects, aged between 30 and 50, were described as Spanish, Colombian, Irish and British.
