Spain becomes a retaining wall against drug trafficking, after seizing 40% of all cocaine in Europe and almost 70% of all hashish

The senior officers that head up this brigade, which has become a benchmark in recent years in the fight against drug trafficking, studied, together with the minister, the new routes by which drugs come into Spain and the latest methods used by drug traffickers to achieve this.

Police effectiveness is forcing the leaders of these criminal mafias to go around the Spanish "wall" by opening up new routes into Europe, principally through Belgium and Holland. The ministerial department headed up by Juan Ignacio Zoido also detected a new modus operandi used by drug traffickers to bring drugs in by using geolocaters.

Two other important figures also came out of the meeting held by Juan Ignacio Zoido at the Central Narcotics Brigade: this year, 477 tonnes of drugs have been destroyed, 23 tonnes more than in 2013, when the previous record of 454 tonnes was reached, and 115.2% more cocaine, 88.46% more heroin and 55.77% more marihuana were seized than the previous year.

Continuous ability to adapt

The figures announced by the Central Narcotics Brigade clearly show that organised crime is currently characterised by its transnational structure, its ability to continually adapt to the environment in which its criminal activity is carried out, changing its actions to try and go undetected and evade police and judicial actions.

On a general basis during 2017 and taking into account that these are provisional data, most of the habitual main indicators on drug trafficking point to a larger seizure than last year, pointed out the minister.

In this regard, the law enforcement agencies have seized a total of 32,795 kilos of cocaine, compared with 15,238 the previous year (up 115.22%); 441 kilos of heroin have been seized compared with 234 kilos in 2016 (up 88.46%); a total of 16,646 kilos of marihuana have been seized compared with 10,686 kilos in 2016 (up 55.77%) and 816,415 cannabis plants have been seized compared with 566,565 plants in 2016 (up 44.1%).

Juan Ignacio Zoido pointed out that this year saw a new record in the destruction of drugs, with a total of 447 tonnes, 30.73% up on 2016 when 365.33 tonnes of drugs were destroyed. To date, the highest figure for the destruction of drugs dates back to 2013 when 454 tonnes of drugs were destroyed.

Cocaine routes and modus operandi

During his speech, the minister referred to the new routes and modus operandi used by drug traffickers. As regards cocaine, he pointed out that the effectiveness of the Spanish police is forcing organised crime groups to go round the retaining wall that Spain has become, by opening up and consolidating new routes for the entry of cocaine into Europe, principally through other countries, such as Belgium and Holland.

Juan Ignacio Zoido pointed out that the main countries of origin for shipments of cocaine to Spain are Brazil, Chile, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica through the ports of Algeciras, Valencia, Barcelona and Vigo. The habitual technique used by these drug trafficking gangs is to send several 'clean' industrial containers and just one with drugs in it, generally from South America through different export companies of all types of shipment to the same or different sea ports to minimise the risks.

The most usual form of bringing cocaine in, pointed out the minister, is through containers using the so-called "gancho ciego" in which neither the shipper nor the recipient are aware that the shipment is being used to traffic illegal goods.

The law enforcement agencies have recently detected a new modus operandi for bringing cocaine in, known as the "drop off", which consists of placing a device to geo-locate the drugs which are then thrown off legal merchant vessels in which the traffickers have infiltrated the crew. They are then picked up in small recreational or fishing vessels close to the coastline to then be landed in Spanish sea ports.

More hashish seized in Spain than in any other European country

Spain, due to its proximity to Morocco, which, together with Afghanistan, is the leading global producer of hashish, continue to be the main point of entry to Europe of this drug, through what is known as the "Strait of Gibraltar route". For this reason, our country is the main retaining wall for this drug into Europe, said the minister, and hence Spain is the country to seize the largest hauls of hashish into the EU by a very considerable margin.

The Minister for Home Affairs explained that police effectiveness has meant that organised crime has had to seek out new routes to bring hashish in through the East Mediterranean, with the drugs first travelling from Morocco to Libya or Egypt to then be brought into Europe through European Mediterranean countries.

New heroin routes

As regards heroin, Minister Zoido remarked that increasing opium productions in Afghanistan (amounting to some 9,000 tonnes a year) means that Spanish police forces have to tackle increasing amounts of heroin entering the EU. New routes to bring heroin in using the Caucasian countries as a point of entry into Europe have been opened up, in addition to the traditional route through the Balkans to Holland, which is then distributed to Spain.

In this regard, the Minister for Home Affairs envisages "a significant increase" in efforts by criminal mafias to introduce heroin by using merchant vessels and containers to the ports of Barcelona and Valencia, as happened with the recent seizure of 330 kilos in Barcelona in a vessel from Turkey.

Spain, exporter of marihuana

To end, Juan Ignacio Zoido referred to the "major increase" in the seizure of cannabis and marihuana and explained that at present organised crime gangs have begun the production of high quality marihuana in a dozen autonomous regions, to be distributed to the rest of Europe by land.

In his opinion, the use of new hydroponic systems has led to a reduction in the crop cycle period, thus leading to increased production. These factors, together with the involvement of organised crime gangs in cultivation and distribution have turned Spain into an exporter of marihuana.

Non official translation