THE Civil Guard discovered that a drug trafficking network was using a Bolivian luggage and parcel shipping company as a cover for its ongoing shipments of ecstasy to Bolivia. Drug traffickers sent only suitcases, without passengers, with the drugs camouflaged inside and once in the Latin American country, the buyers collected their merchandise without problem. At the same time, the company’s headquarters in Bolivia was sending cocaine to its headquarters in Madrid. Among the seven Spanish and Bolivian detainees who made up the criminal organization, there is an important dealer Spanish of Dominican origin with a criminal record for murder and drug trafficking in six countries in America and Europe.
The operation began in March 2023 when Bolivian authorities requested collaboration from Spain due to a seizure of 67,744 ecstasy pills carried out at the Santa Cruz airport with the arrest of two owners of the reception company in this country.
So the investigation in Spain focused on the company that was sending these synthetic drugs. A commercial network dedicated to sending parcels in Bolivia, which had several branches in Madrid and whose director, a close friend of detained in Boliviahad already been the subject of an investigation by the Civil Guard for shipments of cocaine from Bolivia to Spain.
They discovered three expeditions to Barajas
The investigation revealed that the suspect hid the drugs in double bottoms of the merchandise, using shippers and fictitious recipients or personal data of citizens that have nothing to do with the shipments.
With this modus operandi, the Civil Guard managed to locate three other shipments of MDMA at Barajas airport, ultimately seizing 15 kg of the drug. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that the owner of the company used the same process to receive cocaine from her country to Madrid and process it in a garage in the neighborhood of Carabanchelfrom where it was distributed.
The Dominican boss
The Civil Guard also discovered that the main supplier of MDMA He was a major international drug trafficker, of Dominican origin and Spanish nationality, with multiple antecedents in various countries (Dominican Republic, Chile, United States, Holland and Spain) for murder, drug trafficking And money laundering. He was also currently wanted by Swiss authorities for drug trafficking offences.
Indications were also obtained that this commercial network of Bolivian origin was linked to an arrest in 2023 of 478 kg of cocaine which was going to be shipped to Madrid from Bolivia. A case which had significant media coverage in Bolivia, since several people linked to Viru Viru airport were arrested.
The results of the joint investigations between the two countries, and led by the president of the Court of Instruction number 15 of Madrid and the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office, led to the exploitation of the operation in mid-October 2024, carrying out several searches in the cities of Madrid, Getafe and Leganés.
firearms
Concretely, two homes of the main people investigated and several premises linked to the parcel delivery companies were searched, seizing various documents linked to the operation, a firearm short and a sawn-off shotgun. In addition, a cocaine processing laboratory was deactivated, located in a garage in Carabanchel and where cutting substances, processing elements, money counters and ammunition were seized. In coordination with the Spanish authorities and the Spanish Embassy in Bolivia, the FELCN carried out four searches in companies and homes linked to this organization in Santa Cruz (Bolivia), seizing various computer equipment, cell phones and documents.
In total, 67,744 ecstasy pills, 15 kilos of MDMA, 181 grams of cocaine, two firearms, four money counters, three precision scales, other items for the falsification and treatment of narcotic substances, miscellaneous documents and two vehicles were seized.
The detainees are five men and two women, in addition to one non-detainee, aged 21 to 68 and of Bolivian, Dominican and Spanish nationality. Most of them have a history of drug trafficking and are accused of crimes against public health, membership in a criminal group, identity theft, money laundering and crimes against human rights. workers. After being brought to justice, seven of them were imprisoned.
