Spain’s Guardia Civil arrested 20 members of an Italian-led drug trafficking network based in the south of the country on 23 February 2023, in an operation supported by Europol and Italy’s Central Directorate for Anti-Drugs Services.[1][2] Those held included Albanian, Spanish and Moroccan nationals alongside the Italians, while the Italian leaders evaded capture using false identities and remained subject to European arrest warrants.[1][2]

Officers carried out six searches in Seville and Carmona, and the investigation seized 2,500 kg of hashish and 45.6 kg of marijuana in total, plus criminal assets worth more than 5.5 million euros.[1][2] The searches also netted lorries, a boat, tools for marijuana cultivation and hashish production, and 34 mobile phones, and uncovered a large marijuana plantation and a drug laboratory.[1][2] More than 150 officers took part, with a Europol specialist deployed on the action day.[1]

The network moved large hashish shipments into Spain for onward sale in France and Italy.[1][2] The inquiry began in October 2021, when officers found 468 kg of hashish hidden in a lorry loaded with onion pallets and arrested its two drivers.[1][2] In May 2022 officers seized 194 kg of hashish and 30 kg of marijuana from a truck bound for La Carolina, and intercepted a chartered boat carrying 1,800 kg of hashish, arresting its three occupants.[1][2]