Moreno demands Government reactivate elite OCON-Sur unit against drug trafficking in Andalusia
The president of the Andalusian regional government requests from Pedro Sánchez in a letter the restoration of OCON-Sur, dismantled four years ago, amid rising narco activity.
Juanma Moreno demands Sánchez reinstate the Civil Guard anti-drug unit in Andalusia
According to Google News ES — Crime, the president of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juanma Moreno, has sent a formal letter to the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in which he demands the reactivation of OCON-Sur, the Drug Trafficking Coordination Body for the South, an elite unit of the Civil Guard specialising in the fight against drug trafficking that was dismantled four years ago.
Moreno argues in the missive, published on his X account, that the activity of drug mafias in Andalusia has not ceased to intensify. "This is a matter of maximum gravity that generates insecurity among citizens given the evidence that these incidents are repeated with increasing frequency and impunity", the text states.
The Andalusian president cited four deaths that occurred in recent days linked to drug trafficking, as well as the killing of four Civil Guard officers in the line of duty over the past two years in Barbate and Huelva, to demand "a forceful response from the State".
In the letter, Moreno describes the geographical extent of the problem: "Drug mafias have positioned Andalusia as one of their main operational bases. We are no longer talking about a specific district, but rather the entire coastline and part of the interior of my region are targets of drug traffickers". As a visible example, he mentions the narco speedboats operating "in broad daylight" in the course of the Guadalquivir river.
Beyond the impact on public security, Moreno also underscored a social dimension of the phenomenon: drug traffickers "take advantage of the most disadvantaged social strata so that they form part of their networks of support, supply and distribution of drugs".
The president of the Regional Government has backed his request with expert assessment. "The majority of experts agree in pointing out that the disappearance of this force represented a turning point in the increase of criminal activities", he writes. He adds that among the officers there is "a latent complaint about the lack of resources they have to fight on equal terms against this challenge".
Moreno concludes that "the dismantling of OCON-Sur was a mistake that is unfortunately having serious consequences for our officers and our citizens", and urges the central Executive to "acknowledge errors with humility and correct them". His specific request is that the Government "rectify and reorganise this unit so as to provide Andalusia with the necessary instruments to combat drug trafficking and so that the State, as the competent administration, guarantees security".
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)