Another major Portuguese – Spanish operation against drug smugglers has this week resulted in 49 arrests and the seizure of seven tonnes of hashish, 650 kilos of cocaine worth an estimated value of 2.5 million euros, 11 firearms, 24 motor vehicles and 780,000 euros in cash.
The joint operation also involved the search of many homes and the arrest of many inhabitants, in both Portugal and Spain. The home searches took place this week and also during an earlier part of the detailed investigation.
This week’s special operation was not the first and will not be the last On June 6 , Portuguese and Spanish authorities supported by Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, arrested 50 people suspected of being part of the largest criminal network based in Spain’s Canary Islands. That operation involved law enforcement officers from Columbia, the UK and the United States.
In March, the Portuguese navy intercepted a submarine carryong 6.5 tonnes of cocaine about 925 kilometres south of the Azores. The submarine, which had departed from Brazil, was bound for an unknown destination in Iberia.
Without quite so much sophistication as the drug cartels in Latin America, the trafficking groups in southern Europe continue to do the best they can to get around the strong arm of the law. They are faced by increasingly stiff professional opposition For example, the Portuguese and Spanish authorities are well aware of the most significant drug smuggling group in this part of the world. It is known as the Galician Mafia.
The Galician community is located in the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula. It is recognised as a key delivery point for the entry of illegal drugs from Columbia to Europe. The Galician Mafia are also understood o be deeply involved in money laundering, as well as various forms of corruption and violence.
Not far down the Atlantic coast from Galicia, Portugal has become not only a transit place, but also a storage and distribution centre for the delivery of cocaine to other countries in Europe. That needs to be changed.
Because of the apparent need for hallucinatory drugs by ordinary people, trafficking is a hugely profitable cultivation, manufacturing and distribution business worldwide. It should not be confused, however, with the totally legally and carefully monitored production of nedicinal marijoana in places in Portugal, including the Algarve
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