The National Police has given particulars of the operation that dismantled a big drug laboratory in Pontevedra Eight folks labored in a semi-slavery regime and will produce as much as 200 kilos of cocaine per day Inside the laboratory there was a stone chipping machine and a zulo the place they stored the drug
Eight folks working 24 hours a day, in semi-slavery situations, to supply 200 kilos of cocaine a day. This is how they labored within the massive drug laboratory found final month in a chalet in Cerdedo-Cotobade (Pontevedra).
It was the “largest laboratory in Europe” devoted to the processing of cocaine base paste and, as confirmed by officers of the National Police this Thursday, the operation confirms the “leap” that Colombian and Mexican felony organizations have taken.
On March 23, on account of this operation, the National Court despatched 18 folks to jail, together with the eight “cooks” (six Colombians and two Mexicans) who labored as slaves within the Cotobade chalet the place a laboratory was found. .
The eight individuals who labored within the laboratory have been remoted. They had no contact with the surface world, they didn’t have a phone, their passports had been taken away. They solely went out the window to smoke. In this manner they might produce a big amount of medication.
Interior of the Cerdedo-Cotobade drug laboratory. EUROPA PRESS
Inside there was a stone crushing machine, used to extract the bottom paste from inside massive cylinders, and in addition a gap hidden underneath a hatch the place they stored the drug as soon as processed.
No ties to Galician ‘narco’ organizations
The chief commissioner for Narcotics, Antonio MartÃnez Duarte, has indicated that the operation is “a milestone” and has clarified that the group used two Spanish residents detained in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Both participated within the logistics essential to arrange the laboratory, though it’s believed that the bosses are Colombians and Mexicans who’re in a South American nation. The two Spaniards have been accountable for laundering from the Canary Islands and it was the thread via which the operation started.
The police command has additionally mentioned that there aren’t any hyperlinks with Galician ‘narco’ organizations and has highlighted that the intervention, along with aborting the drug from reaching the market, has prevented an environmental crime as a result of the extraction of medication generated polluting substances that ended up in a river close to the chalet that hid the laboratory.
The coca paste arrived in Europe through cargo ships sure for the port of O Porto (Portugal).
Seized 1,300 kilos of cocaine base paste
The intervention within the Pontevedra chalet was carried out by members of the Special Operations Group (GEO) of the Police, though the eight cooks didn’t increase any resistance.
14 searches have been carried out and 1,300 kilos of cocaine base paste have been seized, in addition to properties price 1.7 million euros and 37 monetary merchandise.
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