The Sinaloa Cartel used the room from a chalet in the town of Sant Andreu de Llavaneres (Barcelona) kidnapping and torturing other suspected drug traffickers rivals of your organization. This is what the National Police and the Mossos d’Esquadra discovered during a recent operation which ended with the arrest of 14 people, including nine belonging to this criminal organization of Mexican origin.
The operation was ordered by the Kidnapping and Extortion Section of the Central UDEV of the General Commission of the Judicial Police in collaboration with Catalan police investigators. According to investigation sources detailed to EL ESPAÑOL, This organization had been established in Barcelona for only two years.where they gradually landed with this contingent.
The investigation began this summer, after two complaints from the father and wife of an individual of Serbian and Kosovar nationality. The victim’s data arrived via Interpol in Kosovo and Europol Italy. They explained that their loved one had been kidnapped in Barcelona and demanded a ransom of 240,000 euros.
A few days later, the family contacted the agents to report that they had made a payment in cryptocurrencies under pressure and on the condition of receiving proof again that the victim was alive. Concretely, they made the payment of $32,000 in a virtual cryptocurrency walletfollowing the organization’s instructions to make it difficult to trace the money, but at no time did they hear from the victim and the kidnappers continued to demand further payments.
Judicial sources close to the case acknowledge that the kidnapped person could have a link to the world of drug trafficking, just like those who caught him. The victim was 46 years old. He allegedly worked for the organization and traveled from Italy to Barcelona to meet with some of the leaders of the criminal network.
He Court of Instruction number 2 of Reus maintained the secrecy of the actions throughout the investigation in order not to compromise any of the efforts that were carried out and which allowed the dismantling of the criminal organization. Once the secrecy was lifted, the agents informed the victim’s relatives of his death and the location of his body.
Drug traffickers based in Barcelona sent the family a photograph to prove that this individual was in their possession. They detained him in the aforementioned chalet in the Catalan town, where, according to investigative sources confirming to EL ESPAÑOL, the man was tortured for days after his kidnapping in a room in this house.
When investigators broke into the house a few days ago, members of the Sinaloa cartel They had already set up the room to make it look like no one had been there.. It was as if the room didn’t exist. They had covered the switches and sockets. Despite this, after the search, the investigation was able to prove the torture that was perpetrated in this room.
One of the knives with which they tortured the victim.
In the house they found ties similar to the ones they had used to tie up the person they had kidnapped. Also traces of blood. Among other details, the agents managed to discover that the members of this criminal organization took between 3 and 4 days to end the life of the person they first tortured without rest.
Although they murdered him, they continued the charade and continued to demand ransom from the family. As part of the investigation, on August 5, officers located the man’s lifeless body. There were clear signs of violence in his home and he discovered advanced state of decomposition, in a wooded area in the municipality of Botarell (Tarragona). To take him there, they used the car belonging to the victim.
As a result of the investigation, officers determined that the man he was allegedly kidnapped by members of the criminal organization between May 31 and June 2. A specialized cybercrime team identified several people allegedly linked to the transaction and directly linked to the kidnapping, and investigators found evidence inside a vehicle in which he had traveled from Italy to Barcelona and which found in the municipal warehouse.
Wrapped in blankets
The detainees, linked to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, are linked to crimes of international drug trafficking, as well as money laundering, kidnapping and murder. The gang received packages of Mexican origin containing methamphetamine impregnated with clothing and, once in Catalonia, they proceeded to extract the substances in a laboratory.
One of the weapons seized from the organization.
The detainees lived in Maresme and Barcelona, although the majority had high international mobility to various European countries and Mexico. The efforts of the police made it possible to carry out a police operation in Barcelona, Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, Sant Cebrià de Vallalta and Cabrils (Barcelona), and among the 14 detainees is the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping and the leader of the organization.
During entries and searches, police seized firearms, technological equipment and cash, as well as evidence directly linked to the kidnapping and murder of the kidnapped person. The victim, aged 46, allegedly worked for the organization and traveled from Italy to Barcelona to meet with some leaders of the criminal network.
The corpse was decomposed. It cannot be determined how he died, strangled or asphyxiated. He was wrapped in a blanket when investigators found him.
The central point of the operation is a Spanish citizen also detained who was responsible for money laundering, He was the expert in money laundering through cryptocurrency platforms.
The Sinaloa cartel has been trying for years to establish itself in Spain with various outposts of some of its lieutenants and lower-ranking henchmen trying to open new business avenues for this formidable Mexican organization.
According to the sources of the investigation, they already had a certain infrastructure that allowed them to introduce narcotic substances through the port of Barcelona, by mail and other methods. It wasn’t the first time they’d tried.
A few months ago, hehas Drugs and Organized Crime Unit (UDYCO Central) and the senior management of the Canary Islands and the Valencian Community dismantled the infrastructure in Spain of this organization by intervening 1,800 kilos of methamphetamine In Valence And Alicantethe largest reserve of this substance in Spain and the second largest seizure in all of Europe.
