The Civil Guard has seized more than 21,000 liters of nitrous oxide – a drug known as “laughing gas” – in an industrial warehouse in Alhaurín el Grande (Málaga, 26,436 inhabitants), in what represents the largest police seizure of this substance throughout Europe, as reported this Tuesday by the armed institute. Five people have been arrested.
Nitrous oxide is commonly used in food as a preservative, and also has pharmaceutical use. But in recent years it has become popular among young people as a drug, due to its anesthetic and dissociative properties, which cause the individual to experience a strong and short-lived high when ingested. Its uncontrolled consumption can generate alterations in perception and even trigger a myocardial infarction if mixed with alcohol, which is why its sale for human consumption is illegal. Despite this, today it is a form of fun that has become strong on the Costa del Sol, with an affordable price – around five euros each dose – and a notable presence in nightclubs and private parties in luxury villas.
The network was led by five people of different nationalities – Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland and Serbia – who have already been arrested. Its operations center was located in a warehouse in the La Rosa industrial estate, on the outskirts of Alhaurín el Grande, a municipality in Malaga located in the interior of the province but with good connections to the entire coast. The space served as a warehouse. Every night, numerous people approached the area in rental vehicles to load them with bottles of laughing gas. From there they were distributed throughout the Costa del Sol with the support of shuttle cars. These went ahead to detect the presence of any police control, notify if there were any and, thus, ensure the transport of the merchandise.
In this case, their destination was entertainment venues and nightclubs along the entire Malaga coast, according to investigation sources, especially at parties. Police sources explain that in the operations carried out in the leisure areas of Marbella it is “very common” to find laughing gas cylinders in vehicles of small distributors who distribute them on demand. “We find people who carry a lot of bottles, balloons – it is consumed by inhaling them – and the rest of the supplies, especially in summer in areas like Puerto Banús. Some even carry business cards offering their services. It is something that can be purchased legally, but you must have permits and demonstrate its use,” these sources insist.
With all the information collected, the agents of the Judicial Police team of the Civil Guard of the Coín Company (Málaga) who have directed the operation – called Ozal – decided to intervene and entered the industrial warehouse. There they found 21,302 liters of nitrous oxide distributed in 13,149 bottles of different capacities and 51,840 refill cartridges. “It is the largest seizure of this type of substance in Europe,” the Civil Guard emphasizes. The five detained people are now provisionally released. This is the largest, but not the only, of the police operations carried out on the Malaga coast against a substance that wreaks havoc. In June 2021, in fact, two young people suffered serious injuries after consuming this substance, also considered a drug of abuse. Then, a 16-year-old girl decided to get out of the car in the middle of the highway and then jumped off a nearby bridge after consuming this gas and without, later, remembering what happened. A day later, a 31-year-old man jumped from a third-floor balcony after consuming nitrous oxide with his friends. A report published by the Ministry of Health in May of last year also stated that it is “a fashionable drug in Europe.”
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