Logroño (EFE).- The Civil Guard, the National Police and the Tax Agency, in the “Kilos-Adeva-Disney” operation, have dismantled a laboratory in La Rioja that was operating at full capacity and it is estimated that it had a production capacity about 150 kilograms of speed per month, destined for distribution in the north of Spain.
This was stated on Tuesday by the spokesman for the Civil Guard in La Rioja, Miguel Ángel Sáenz, in an informative conference, together with the Government delegate in this region, Beatriz Arraiz; the regional chief of operations of the Superior Police Headquarters of La Rioja, Eliseo Gómez; and the chief inspector of the third section of the Central Narcotics Brigade (UDYCO), Alejandro Martín.
Sáenz explained that this operation, coordinated by the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), has dismantled a criminal group dedicated to the production and distribution in northern Spain of significant amounts of narcotic substances, mainly speed and cocaine.
Arraiz has indicated that the narcotic substances seized, of great purity and among which there were 104 kilos of speed, would have become, once adulterated, almost 448,687 doses, valued on the illicit market at 4.97 million euros.
Sáenz has indicated that in Madrid another clandestine laboratory has been dismantled for the extraction of the coca alkaloid and subsequent obtaining of cocaine.
In this operation, four people have been arrested, three Colombians and one Spanish, between the ages of 23 and 45 and residents of La Rioja and the Madrid community, of which three are in prison.
Both laboratories, he continued, had all the necessary instruments to carry out the processing of the precursor substances, obtaining the speed and extracting the cocaine.
Arraiz has indicated that in the exploitation phase of the operation seven records have been made in the La Rioja towns of Autol, Agoncillo, Arrubal and Lardero; and in Leganés, Madrid, where 104.7 kilos of speed have been seized; 2.4 from ketamine and 1.3 from cocaine.
This operation, whose nickname “Disney” was given because the investigation began with the trip of one of those involved to Disneyland Paris, has resulted in the seizure of 290 liters of precursors; 15 kilos of cutting substances; 7,000 euros in cash; prohibited weapons and 21,000 euros in cryptocurrencies, he has specified.
A complex investigation
For his part, Gómez has pointed out that the investigation began in August 2022, after discovering the existence of a criminal group that operated in La Rioja and Madrid dedicated to the preparation and distribution of notorious amounts of narcotic substances.
Its members were being investigated by the Civil Guard, the National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, which led to the establishment of a joint operation at the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime, he stressed.
From that moment on, he continued, “this operation began to take shape, of great complexity due to the security measures adopted by those investigated, the large infrastructure of homes to be controlled and the numerous vehicles they used to move around Madrid, La Rioja and neighboring provinces.
He pointed out that, with the information collected during the months of investigation, “the agents managed to define in detail the entire infrastructure of the organization, its criminal network, the roles played by each of its members, its dangerousness, its bases of operations and clandestine laboratories.
“It is significant that in one of the registries in La Rioja, instruments, chemical substances and precursors were located for the imminent implementation of a coca alkaloid extraction laboratory to obtain cocaine,” he stressed.
Martín has highlighted that “the exhaustive work of analysis and operational activity allowed us to find out that the criminal group was going to introduce an important consignment of speed and cocaine into the market.”
He has reported that the head of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 3 of Logroño, with the approval of the Public Prosecutor, was requested to enter and register seven properties.
After being authorized and executed, narcotic substances, cash, cryptocurrencies and prohibited weapons, as well as chemical compounds, were seized, he highlighted.
