A joint operation of the National Police and the Polícia Judiciária de Portugal and Europol has led to the dismantling of the criminal organization of those known to the police as “narcos del cielo”. This group was dedicated to smuggling tons of cocaine into Europe by air through the use of private airplanes, with the financing of Chinese businessmen.
The operation has led to the arrest of 25 people19 in Spain and six in Portugal, as reported by the National Police in a press release in which it has given account of the investigation carried out in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cuenca and Plasencia (Cáceres). As a result, it has been decreed the provisional imprisonment without bail for 16 of them.
The organization, according to the Police, “highly specialized in the introduction of cocaine shipments in Europe”, used private planes and its members had numerous contacts for sending and receiving cocaine shipments.
The criminal network resorted as a source of financing to businessmen of Chinese origin -known as hawalers-who had sufficient economic capacity and a structure that operated worldwide to carry out the following activities credit compensation outside the financial system legal.
As a result of the investigation 460 kilos of cocaine have been seized.a handgun, more than 500,000 euros in cash, 18 vehicles and 45 mobile terminals, most of them encrypted. Eight properties valued at more than 1,650,000 euros and 80 bank accounts with a balance of 660,000 euros have also been blocked.
A Colombian and a coffee shop
The first investigations, initiated in June 2023 jointly between the National Police and the U.S. DEA, focused on the activities of a Colombian national residing in Madrid who allegedly led an important criminal organization dedicated to the importation of large quantities of this narcotic substance.
In the initial phase, the investigation focused on one cafeteria located in La Moraleja (Madrid). In this cafeteria, frequented by the investigated and which they themselves referred to as “the office”, most of the meetings of the members of the organization took place.
After several months, the agents confirmed that the network had access to several European airports as entry points for cocaine shipments, one of them being in the Portuguese town of Beja. There, the network had an extensive structureThis is the reason why its members made numerous trips to Portugal.
In January, the agents became aware that the organization had launched its first chartered aircraft from Barranquilla (Colombia) to Beja Airport (Portugal), aboard which were several of its members, as well as pilots hired for the purpose.
In spite of the extensive arrangements put in place, police efforts confirmed that the plane had not been able to be loaded with the cocaine in Barranquilla. economic losses to the organization in excess of 500,000 euros.
They then resorted to smaller operations that did not require a large financial outlay, and started sending suitcases with cocaine from different countries to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport.
However, shipments were detected by the agentsThe agents intercepted four of them in September 2023 (with 16.5 kilos of cocaine), March 2024 (31 kilos), April 2024 (60 kilos) and September 2024 (20 kilos).
Likewise, last May the organization sent a container of avocados from Peru to the Port of Barcelona. On this occasion it contained 344 kilos of cocaine hidden in the floor of the structure.However, the agents intercepted it before it reached the members of the network.
In June 2024, the suspects made a second attempt to transport the drugs by private aircraft. After securing financing through several outside investors from Mexico, they chartered a private aircraft from Johannesburg, South Africa, to the Dominican Republic, where the narcotics were to be loaded, and then on to the United Kingdom. As with the first attempt, the logistical problems prevented the cocaine from being loaded.