The figures of the annual balance of seizures from drug trafficking organizations can vary depending on whether the Galician ‘copyright’ is granted to failed shipments on the high seas that were suspected of being destined to sneak along the Galician coast. In any case, all calculations place between 12 and 15 tons of cocaine with a Galician seal seized in Galicia or seized from its organizations in 2024. Galician drug trafficking seems incombustible and South American ‘fariña’ continues to be the king drug. But foreign mafias are increasingly stepping on the estuaries: two different Albanian organizations have tried to sneak 2.2 tons of cocaine along the Galician coast at the start of 2025. “These are dizzying figures,” acknowledge police sources who have been fighting on the front lines for years. against these organizations. The balance for 2024 records figures similar to the volume of seizures of previous years. But going into detail, the year just ended stands out for two reasons: many of those tons were seized on the high seas and two historical figures who had been under the police radar for years but who have never been convicted of drug trafficking were arrested. standard drug trafficking No Drug trafficking Nine arrested for trying to sneak a ton of cocaine through the Port of Vigo Jesús Standard iron Yes The case of the narco-submarine Poseidon leaks but is close to a eternal investigated Jesús HierroThe bar was high. In December 2023, the National Police carried out the largest seizure of cocaine in the history of Galicia. And that’s saying a lot. In Operation Tonara, 7,500 kilos of cocaine that had sneaked through the Port of Vigo camouflaged between frozen tuna loins were intervened in La Coruña. About twenty alleged members of two organizations of Balkan origin were arrested. The coup was completed with the seizure of another 3.4 tons of white powder in the port of Valencia. Global and sophisticated In the 21st century it is not easy to define what is Galician drug trafficking and what is not. The historical bosses were mainly ‘lancheros’, who, allied with Colombian mafias, were in charge of storing cocaine on land that others imported from American lands. But the traffickers, also the Galician ones, are increasingly global. The traditional collaboration with South American groups has become more sophisticated. And there are also foreign mafias without links to Galician organizations operating in the estuaries. Or producing cocaine ‘in situ’ in laboratories in Galicia and the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. Apart from that, there is the lottery of whether they decide on one port or another to introduce it into Europe. The 7,500 kilos intervened in Operation Tonara were in a warehouse in Cambre (La Coruña) EFEIn Galicia, the ‘hottest’ is Vigo, but in Spain those in Barcelona, Valencia and Algeciras stand out above. «Of course there are organizations in Galicia, but there is a global ‘modus operandi’, they are itinerant and look for ports. Today they try Vigo, tomorrow Malaga and the day after Algeciras,” Fernando Iglesias, the head of the Customs Surveillance Service in Galicia, recently explained to ABC. After the hard blow of Operation Tonara at the end of 2023, the organizations soon recovered. Already in January, the police surprised Galician David Currás with 500 kilos of cocaine aboard a glider 50 miles from the Canary Islands. In February, and also on the Canary coast, another semi-rigid boat was intercepted with almost 4,500 kilos of white powder. An alleged Galician drug trafficker, José Manuel Costa Hermida, was part of that crew. They were the appetizers of what was to come. Because in 2024, a notorious police failure from 2023 was still underway. In March of that year, the second large transatlantic narco-submarine located in Europe appeared in the middle of the Arousa estuary. But in the bowels of ‘Poseidon’ – as the traffickers themselves called him – there was not a gram of drug left. The investigators did not arrive in time to stop the 4,000 kilos of cocaine that they were suspected of transporting. The narco-submarine ‘Poseidon’, in the Illa de Arousa, after being located in the estuary without any drugs EFE It is still unknown today who He is the main person responsible for the cargo of ‘Poseidon’. But the State Security Forces followed the trail of two indigenous organizations for having gone out in search of the cocaine from the narco-submarine to sneak it along the Galician coast. One of them linked, supposedly, to the surroundings of Sito Miñanco; the other, to Juan Vidal Padín, ‘El Burro’, an alleged Galician trafficker in the spotlight for two decades who had never fallen. The operation against El Burro was launched in April of last year. The Civil Guard had detected movements of boats coming and going from the area where the narco-submarine and a ship it owned were located. Two gliders were seized during the searches. And although researchers rule out that they are the boats used to unload the ‘Poseidon’, those boats bring El Burro closer to the bench for the first time. Of course, for smuggling – these boats are considered a prohibited genre – and not for drug trafficking: not a single gram of drugs was found in the records of their properties.Operation HaliaFollowing a chronological overview of the main interventions of the year, in May the Operation Halia. Without a doubt, one of the main blows against drug traffickers in Galicia in 2024, a year that, despite maintaining the volume of previous seizures, did not stand out for the dismantling of any large organization. The siege of Vidal Padín and also Operation Halia, in which the Civil Guard ‘hunted’, among others, the Galician Pablo Quiroga, are exceptions in a poor year in terms of the fall of criminal structures. Operation Halia took a toll Twenty arrests were made in Pontevedra, La Coruña and Madrid, where they had a laboratory to adulterate cocaine. Regarding the seizures, the Civil Guard seized 50 kilos of coca, 1,700 of hashish and 10,000 ecstasy pills. But what stands out about Operation Halia is the seizure of three million euros in cash and the seizure of assets worth 10 million euros, including bank accounts, luxury homes in the Pontevedra region of O Salnés – where they are from. the supposed leaders – and ships. Attacking the assets amassed by drug traffickers at the expense of public health is one of the great objectives of the police. In this case, Quiroga and his collaborators are accused of importing cocaine on sailboats from the Caribbean to Galicia.Operation Halia seized some three million euros in cash from the organization Civil GuardIn the last third of the year there was a doubling of large caches that, supposedly , they had Galicia as their destination. In November, a Panamanian-flagged fishing boat was intercepted west of the Canary Islands with 4,000 kilos of cocaine that an organization was allegedly trying to sneak along the Galician coast. A month later, and also near the Canary Islands, they ‘hunted’ another fishing vessel whose probable destination was going to be the Port of Vigo. This surge of large caches at the throes of the year is no coincidence. “They are the most favorable months, more or less from November to February, to sail from South America to Europe,” the manager of the Galician Foundation against Narcotrafficking highlights to ABC. “And if the weather conditions are the best, then there are more attempts,” insists Alonso. “They are the most favorable months, more or less from November to February, to sail to Europe, and there are more attempts” Fernando Alonso Fundación Galega contra o Drug traffickingFishing, containers with drugs camouflaged among legal merchandise, boats, narco-submarines and even ‘on-site’ laboratories. The methods to supply the European continent with ‘fariña’ are multiple and the Galician route continues to be, although far from exclusive, “one of the favorites,” according to Alonso. Official statistics highlight Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Catalonia and the Valencian Community as the autonomies with the highest volume of seizures. In the last two cases, due to the importance of the ports of Valencia and Barcelona. And in the Canary Islands, because the majority of interventions on the high seas are conducted there. But Galicia, one step below in terms of volumes, is still there. And their organizations, discreet and increasingly better connected, do not falter. But if 2024 was intense, the start of 2025 is being frenetic. And with Balkan prominence. They are going strong: two weeks ago, 1,100 kilos of coca that an Albanian gang tried to put in a container were seized in the Port of Vigo. And another organization from the same country this week has dared to unload – frustrated – a ton and a half in a narco-boat, a method until now reserved for indigenous organizations, well aware of the geographical idiosyncrasy of the estuaries. “They have everything invaded, they are very daring,” highlight police sources, who fear above all the violence that characterizes the gangs of the East. The Civil Guard transfers a detainee to the Vilagarcía court in the latest blow to the Albanian drug traffickers EP The threat of the violence of Eastern organizations Balkan organizations have been operating on the Peninsula for years. Their usual ‘modus operandi’ is the ‘blind hook’, trying to sneak the drugs into containers camouflaged among legal merchandise. Sometimes through Spanish ports – also Galician – and other times Portuguese. But the latest major police coup in Galicia confirms that Albanians also dare to use drug boats in the estuaries, a specialty until now reserved for native drug traffickers. “The Galicians themselves believe that they want to displace them,” police sources tell ABC. Of course, for now they need local support: in the last operation seven Albanians fell but also a Galician as an alleged collaborator.
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