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ARCHIVED - 44 arrests as police shut down international, German-run drug trafficking network in Malaga
700 kilos of marijuana and hashish were seized during raids in Malaga and Granada
An international drug trafficking network that a notorious German family clan was attempting to re-establish in Malaga, Andalusia, has been shut down and 44 people arrested in 50 simultaneous house raids.
The powerful criminal organisation that transported large quantities of marijuana to Central Europe has been dismantled in a joint operation involving the Guardia Civil, Europol and the German police LKA Hamburg.
Some 650 kilos of marijuana, 51 kilos of hashish, 4.2 million euros in cash, 26 vehicles and weapons have been seized.
Operation 'SCHULD' began at the end of 2021 when the Guardia Civil became aware a suspect in Malaga had taken over the reins and leadership in Spain of an "important German family clan", based in Hamburg.
The individual is the brother of the former leaders of the clan who were jailed in Germany for organised crime and drug trafficking. According to a police statement "his objective was to rebuild the criminal infrastructure that the organisation had run on the Costa del Sol".
Those investigated were already known to the Guardia Civil, as the network had earlier been dismantled in 2018 in Malaga in an operation called 'Carambolas'.
In that operation, two officers were seriously injured in Granada after being run over by the drug traffickers when they tried to flee at the time of the arrest.
Investigators identified a person of Moroccan origin, "a delegate of the criminal network and a key player in its activity". Through exhaustive monitoring, it was found that he received instructions under supervision from Germany, structuring the different players within the organisation.
He was also allegedly in charge of obtaining the financing and the movement of cash through various transport operations and the regular flow of consignments of marijuana and hashish from Spain to Germany.
The organisation was structured in a complex network divided into a pecking order with a defined criminal role, with the HQ in Hamburg.
Meanwhile, the hashish and marijuana supply network was located in the provinces of Malaga and Granada.
Large amounts of money to pay for the drug consignments were transferred from Germany through a 'Hawala' system, using retail businesses linked to people of Asian origin located in the province of Malaga and other residents in Madrid.
Once the money was collected by 'couriers', it was transported in vehicles with sophisticated double bottoms with hydraulic opening until the payment of drug consignments was made directly to the suppliers. The money was collected and delivered using pre-established passwords.
Drug consignments were transported weekly to Germany using transport companies located in the province of Zaragoza. To do so, they used large international goods trucks or caravans, pretending to be tourists.
At the end of last year, several shipments to Europe were intercepted, including one in the province of Huesca with 100 kilos of marijuana and two detainees, and another in Granada with 250 kilos and two more detainees.
In March 2022, the arrested 'leader' of the organisation travelled from Germany to Malaga to give instructions and directly supervise one of the shipments, in which a rented heavy-duty refrigerated lorry was to be used. His plan was foiled when the lorry was intercepted and its driver, of Polish origin, was arrested at the La Jonquera border crossing in Gerona. A further 167 kilograms of marijuana hidden in a legal load of oranges was seized.
Shortly afterwards, another caravan chartered by the criminal organisation was intercepted in France, carrying 123 kilograms of marijuana, and two more people were arrested.
Once all the members of the criminal network were identified, 50 simultaneous house searches were carried out in Hamburg, Malaga, Granada, Huelva, Cadiz, Zaragoza and Madrid.
So far, 44 people have been arrested, two of them by the French police, and 19 international arrest warrants have been issued for members of the organisation who have fled from justice.
Images: Guardia Civil/Europol
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