ISSUE NO. 1634
27 Oct - 2 Nov 2016
COSTA DEL SOL
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Photo Credit: Guardia Civil
Orange box drug gang
By John Smith Agents of the Guardia Civil have smashed a gang who were shipping drugs from Spain to the UK in lorries carrying oranges. The operation began when a Malaga-based traffic officer stopped a lorry on the A7 and suspicions were aroused when the driver ran off instead of staying with his vehicle. The lorry was found to contain 32 packages with more than 1,000 kilos of hashish amongst the fruit. As a result of this find, officers were able to trace the entire organisation involved in the smuggling which operated from premises in Marbella, Es-
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tepona, Torrox, Sevilla Los Palacios, Villafranca and Alcala de Guadaira. It transpires two companies had been formed to import and then export shipments of oranges legally and regularly from Spain to the UK. Drugs were vacuum packed in a house located in the town of Alcala de Guadaira and were hidden in boxes of oranges.
These were placed in the central part of the vehicle, whilst surrounding pallets were loaded with oranges without drugs. The result meant it was difficult for sniffer dogs to identify the drugs amongst strongly scented fruit and vacuum packed. A total of 18 people from Algeria, France, Paraguay, Portugal and Spain were arrested
including two gunmen who had been hired to protect the drugs. It is thought the haul seized by the Guardia Civil was actually stolen by another drug operation. The seized oranges have been passed to a food bank in Sevilla whilst the alleged criminals have been passed to the courts.