The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil, with Europol and the CRAIN intelligence centre, have dismantled a criminal group based in Guadix, Granada, that distributed hashish and cannabis to central European countries hidden among bales of wool, live animals and scrap metal.[1][2]
Ten people were arrested on suspicion of belonging to a criminal organisation, drug trafficking, money laundering, unlawful possession of firearms and electricity fraud.[1][2] Officers seized 1,147 kilos of hashish, 755 kilos of cannabis and two pistols, and carried out thirteen house searches in Guadix, Benalua de Guadix, Alquife, Atarfe, Belicena, Pinos Puente and Calicasas in Granada province, and in Algodonales and Bornos in Cadiz province, recovering almost 36,000 euros in cash alongside phones, precision scales and vacuum-sealing machines.[1][2] Seven bank accounts were frozen and seizure orders issued for seven properties and 21 vehicles.[1][2]
The investigation began after French customs inspected a lorry arriving from Spain in July 2022 and found cannabis and hashish hidden in its wool bales.[1][2] Early in the inquiry a light aircraft linked to drug trafficking crashed near Larache, Morocco, and investigators found its pilot had been picked up by a member of the dismantled group; the Beechcraft Musketeer aircraft gave the Guardia Civil operation its name.[1][2]
