Although the Mossos d’Esquadra They emphasize that this is not a new criminal phenomenon in Catalonia, hashish trafficking has resurfaced with some developments that have caught the attention of researchers. He ‘Beijing case’ It is one of the most productive police operations to attack the networks that download the drug on the Catalan coast. The warning of a suspicious night landing in the port of Mataró last February allowed the agents to seize 154 bales with 5,500 kilos of the narcotic substance and undertake investigations that have resulted in 26 detained. In addition to being useful, the confiscation allowed the police to discover certain changes that are operating in the black market, in which networks try to single out their commodityprinting a distinctive name on packages of drugs, as if they were legal products.
The Mossos detect that drug traffickers use stickers to “create a brand” and distinguish themselves
Josep Antoni López Garzón He is head of the criminal investigation area of the North Metropolitan Region of the Mossos. He explains that now the bales arrive “more prepared” to then be transported and marketed. “In the early 2000s, they were more bunglers, without much paraphernalia and prepared quickly. Now, some are added stickers logotype, like a brand”compared the police command in an appearance this Tuesday.
López Garzón has commented that the claim of “create a brand” is a peculiarity with which criminal networks try to distinguish themselves. It has also been observed in clandestine marijuana distribution channels. At the same time, he added that the wrappers that compress the substance are heavier now. “Before they weighed about 30 kilos and now 36,” said the police officer, who alluded to one more change: “Now they have handles added to carry them as if they were a backpack”.
Throughout the coast
The Mossos d’Esquadra have assured that hashish landings are not concentrated in a single enclave on the Catalan coast. “It is done along the entire coast,” explained the head of the force’s criminal investigation area, Antoni Salleras. “The important thing,” he specified, “is that the place is discreetwith a fast communication route and a ‘daycare’ [un sitio donde almacenar la droga] close”.
Salleras has pointed out that a point where drug trafficking landings have been frequent in Catalonia is the Ebro Delta, “probably due to the loneliness of the coast and the Ebro River,” he ventured. “We have also detected that there are landings again on the Costa Brava. It is a steep coast, with solitary coves. They allow them to be more camouflaged and detect the police presence more than in other more populated areas,” said the police chief.
He added that no discharges have been detected so far on the beaches of Barcelona neither him port From the capital. “It fails to meet one of the conditions that organizations seek: that it be a discreet area,” Salleras noted.
In the case of the raid in Mataró, the Mossos did not arrive in time to seize the first shipment of narcotic merchandise in time. López Garzón has detailed that it took the gang 18 minutes to unload and transport 200 kilos of hashish. The organization had three boats 12 meters in length, “with three 300-horsepower engines,” and six “heavy-tonnage” vans, the police official said. He also had the help of a vigilant from the port of the capital of Maresme, which made it easier for them to access and try not to be discovered. “They bought it or captured it,” the police official accused.
The Mossos d’Esquadra share information with other police forces through the Intelligence Center against Organized Crime. Salleras argues that the Catalan police are trying to “make it difficult” for the trafficking networks so that they “seek other means” of transportation and, in turn, the price of the merchandise becomes more expensive. “Five years ago, hashish cost 1,500 euros. Today, it costs 2,100 euros, probably due to the police pressure to which the organizations are subjected,” he deduced.
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The head of investigation of the Mossos has indicated that the narcolanchas Discovered by the Catalan police, they ship a large quantity of fuel. “They unload the hashish and refuel with the fuel they carry to return. They don’t travel at great speed. speed on the way up, because they leave an obvious trail in the sea that can cause them to be detected from the air. They don’t go faster than 15 knots. If they feel persecuted or when they go down, they can use all their power,” explains Salleras.
The command has stated that, for now, the Mossos do not contemplate the hypothesis of hashish being grown in Catalonia. A different case occurs with the dopein which one observes “a change of total paradigm.” “Catalonia now produces a drug, when before it did not produce anything,” he said. Likewise, he added that no “cases of corruption of concern” have been detected within the body associated with hashish trafficking, as they have. transcended in the case of marijuana.