Nearly One Million Ecstasy Tablets Seized In Spain’s Largest Haul Of Synthetic Drugs

Almost one million ecstasy tablets have been seized by Spanish police in what’s being said to be the country’s largest haul of synthetic drugs.
Spanish officials retrieved 827,000 ecstasy tablets, 76kg of speed, 39.5kg of crystal meth and 217 litres of liquid amphetamine in the haul from four different locations in Barcelona, Seville, Ibiza and Málaga.
Eleven people have since been arrested, who are described as ‘the most important criminal organisation dedicated to the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs in the history of Spanish drug trafficking’.
They are facing charges for drug trafficking, belonging to a criminal organisation and illegally possessing weapons.

In addition to the mass of synthetic drugs, police also seized 2,000 doses of LSD, 1.65kg of pink cocaine, 310kg of hashish, 89kg of pre-packaged marijuana, two pistols, a pair of mortar shells, a machete, nine vehicles and €267,000, among other items.
Eight of the eleven criminals will be detained in prison until their trials, The Guardian reports.
The gang funded their operation by supplying huge quantities of hashish and marijuana to the Netherlands and the UK.
The hashish and marijuana were reportedly smuggled by being hidden in three-phase electrical transformers, which were shipped out of Spain along with some classic cars.

Once these transformers arrived in the Netherlands, the hashish and marijuana were then swapped out for the huge haul of synthetic drugs for the return journey to Spain.
The Spanish police said in a statement the ‘next phase’ of the gang’s haul after the drugs arrived in Spain was processing. They explained, ‘The gang used ‘cooks’ – experts in making speed, methamphetamine or MDMA – working in two laboratories that the criminals had set up in Barcelona’.
The drugs were later distributed throughout the country.
A statement from the police further read:
It’s also worth noting that of all the substances seized, the 217 litres of liquid amphetamine would – had it been processed in the organisation’s Barcelona laboratories – have produced 738kg of speed, making it the biggest ever amphetamine seizure in Spain.

The police investigation lasted around 12 months and was conducted in three phases.
The first phase was dismantling of two synthetic drug manufacturing laboratories in Barcelona followed by dismantling the drug distribution system to the Netherlands. The third phase was raiding the gang’s main warehouse in Barcelona.
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Topics: News, Barcelona, Drugs, Now, Record Breaking, Spain, World News