Dutch drug network leader arrested in Valencia during 5-kilogram speed delivery
The National Police arrest the head of a Dutch organisation specialising in designer drugs in Valencia. Six people detained in total and almost 30 kilogrammes of ecstasy, speed and pink cocaine seized.
Police operation against designer drug network in Valencia
According to levante-emv.com, the National Police have arrested in Valencia the leader of a Dutch organisation specialising in the distribution of designer drugs. The arrest took place on 13 October on Avenida de Portugal, in the Marxalenes neighbourhood, when the leader was personally participating in the delivery of 5 kilogrammes of speed to a client, a quantity whose wholesale value ranges between €75,000 and €150,000.
The operation, coordinated by the Northern Police Station of the National Police in Alicante, has resulted in six arrests: five men and one woman, mostly Dutch nationals, though there are also Spanish and Venezuelan citizens. Investigators have been tracking the leader for months, identified as Dutch and the main contact with producers in the Netherlands, where most of the designer drugs circulating in Spain are manufactured or distributed.
The network operated from Benidorm and Torrevieja, distributing medium quantities to smaller groups that sold the drugs to end consumers through street dealers. The system allowed distance to be maintained between production and street sales, fragmenting the distribution chain. Once the first two arrests had been carried out, police officers voluntarily searched the home of the buyer in Valencia and requested from the judge at plaza 11 of the Investigation Section of the Court of First Instance four additional warrants for raids in Benidorm and Torrevieja.
The searches of the five combined properties allowed officers to seize 18 kilogrammes of ecstasy in pills, 11.5 kilogrammes of speed (including the 5 from the transaction in Marxalenes), one kilogramme of pink cocaine—colloquially known as "pink cocaine"—, 870 grammes of marijuana, 13 grammes of crystal and 186 grammes of methamphetamine in tablet form. Investigators also recovered just under €15,000 in cash and chemical precursors along with laboratory equipment typical of clandestine designer drug synthesis operations.
The operation reflects the growing presence of these substances in the Spanish market. National and European drug trafficking control agencies have warned in recent years about the rise of designer drugs, especially those coming from China and distributed from the Netherlands. The seizure is part of a trend of operations against these clandestine laboratories, such as the one recently dismantled by the Civil Guard's drug enforcement team in Anna.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)