Tangiers arrest of leader of international hashish trafficking network following raid that yields 86 arrests
Spain's National Police dismantled one of the largest organisations dedicated to hashish trafficking from Morocco, resulting in 86 arrests and the seizure of nearly 11 tonnes of drugs. The network leader, who had been at large since March, was located in Tangiers in early October.
Leader of international hashish trafficking network arrested in Tangiers
According to The Olive Press, Spain's National Police has dismantled one of the largest organisations dedicated to hashish trafficking from Morocco, resulting in 86 arrests. The network leader, who had been at large since March after abandoning a residence in a residential area of Madrid, was located in Tangiers on 8 October and is in prison awaiting extradition.
The leader was involved in all levels of the operation: from negotiations with Moroccan hashish suppliers to coordinating transport by sea and road. He also acquired vehicles and properties to store the drugs and coordinated individuals responsible for its receipt, custody and distribution.
During 33 raids by Spain's National Police, nearly 11 tonnes of hashish were seized. The group's leaders used encrypted messaging platforms to direct their criminal activities, through which they coordinated imports, their transfer to rental properties and properties that functioned as storage hideouts, and their subsequent delivery to small-scale distributors.
The hashish was unloaded on the Spanish coast from Morocco and transported to Madrid as a central storage point. From there it was distributed throughout the country and the rest of Europe. The network used fraudulent loans through front men, false payslips, fictitious invoices from shell companies and the sale and purchase of luxury vehicles and properties to launder their proceeds.
Of the 86 arrested, 65 were arrested in the Madrid area, 10 in Guadalajara, five in Valencia, three in Málaga, and one in each of the cities of Burgos, Almería and Girona. A judge at the National Court sent 18 of those arrested to prison.
House searches revealed 10.8 tonnes of hashish, 21.8 kilos of cannabis, two rifles and four additional prohibited firearms. Police also secured 25 vehicles, 15 luxury watches and nearly 466,000 euros in cash.
The investigation, initiated the previous year, remains active with the possibility of further arrests. In December 2025, a first operational phase resulted in the seizure of more than 2.1 tonnes of hashish in a residence in the Madrid neighbourhood of Las Tablas. In March, a first wave of arrests of key figures in the organisation was carried out, but the leader managed to flee to Morocco.
In late June, police dismantled two storage points: a residence on the outskirts of Madrid where more than 960 kilos of hashish and 12 kilos of cannabis buds were seized, and a property in the Sanchinarro area where one tonne of hashish was secured. Subsequently, a warehouse in Silla (Valencia) was searched where 4.6 tonnes of hashish destined to be transferred to Madrid were extracted.
Source: The Olive Press