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Date Published: 30/12/2024

Drugs sent from Spain to UK discovered in frozen broccoli

The network of drug dealers used the vegetable as a decoy for the smuggling of product

The Spanish National Police, in collaboration with the British agency NCA, has stopped a criminal organisation that was engaged in sending hashish and cocaine hidden amongst frozen broccoli. The drugs were found being smuggled from Guadalajara to the United Kingdom.

Nine people of British nationality have been arrested, two of them living in Spain, and two addresses dedicated to the operations have been searched also. The investigation began in mid-2022 when English and Spanish national police services began exchanging information on the operations dedicated to shipping drugs from Spain to the UK.

During the first phase, the two services focused on identifying the companies controlled by the criminal organisation for these shipments, as well as the individual members of the crime group involved. After that, the investigation began monitoring commercial activity allegedly carried out by the business network by locating shipments made from Spain to the UK.

British officers then began intercepting the packages upon arrival to the island. A total of 187 kilos of cocaine and up to 1,485 kilos of hashish was then seized as it came into the UK. By mid-2024, investigators discovered a new business from which drug shipments were allegedly being made. This time, it was a company dedicated to the export of fruits and vegetables based in Guadalajara.

The Spanish police then began their surveillance of the business and members of the criminal organisation were identified as they went to and from the company. Then in October, the police discovered that three pallets of boxes of broccoli were sent to Manchester, and that one of the leaders of the organisation went to the city to collect them.

Furthermore, two other shipments were being made ready during this time and stored in frozen broccoli packaging in Spain. That is when the Spanish Police searched the warehouse and found 400 kilos of hashish ready to be sent and two members of the organisation were arrested. The NCA simultaneously seized a total of 600 kilos of hashish in frozen broccoli and arrested seven members of the criminal structure.

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Images: Policía Nacional

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