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CRIME

Colombian drug traffickers sink submarine with cargo off Spain

A group of Colombian drug traffickers sank their submarine off the coast of Spain after they were spotted by customs officers, police said in a joint statement Tuesday.

Published: 27 June 2024 09:26 CEST
Colombian drug traffickers sink submarine with cargo off Spain
Colombian drug traffickers sink submarine with cargo off Spain. Photo: Handout / Spanish Guardia Civil Customers and Police Authority / AFP

Spain is one of the main entry points for drugs into Europe, due to its close links with Latin America and its proximity to Morocco.

On Sunday, customs officers spotted a vessel 280 nautical miles (500 kilometres) off the southern Spanish coast.

READ ALSO: Spanish police smash international drug-smuggling ring 

It was a 20-metre semi-submersible – a type of boat increasingly used by traffickers who are redoubling their creativity to find new ways of concealing drug shipments.

When customs officers approached, the crew “opened the valves on the bottom of the submarine, before surfacing to safety,” the statement said.

It added: “The semi-submersible was flooded within minutes, before sinking with its cargo to the bottom of the sea.”

The four Colombian crew members were rescued and then arrested.

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CRIME

Spain and France bust million-euro-a-day money laundering network

Spanish and French police said Friday they had smashed an international money-laundering network capable of handling a million euros per day, arresting five people in Spain, including its leader.

Published: 6 July 2024 09:16 CEST
Spain and France bust million-euro-a-day money laundering network

Jointly run by France’s anti-fraud squad and the Spanish police with Europol’s support, the investigation began in February 2021 when French customs agents found more than 500,000 euros hidden in a car in southern France.

Led by a French magistrate, investigators discovered the existence of a “criminal scheme for laundering large quantities of cash across Europe”, which had been operating since at least 2019, a joint statement said.

This network, made up of Chinese nationals living in various European countries, was able to integrate huge sums of cash — more than one million euros ($1.1 million) per day — back into the legitimate economy.

“Their modus operandi was based on the existence of many collection points for money that was mainly coming from trading in counterfeit goods, tax and customs fraud, and pimping” sex workers, it said.

The money was then transferred to the network which then organised its distribution across Europe.

Spanish police arrested five people in Madrid, Valencia, Alicante and Barcelona, including a Chinese businessman who headed the network.

Investigators also searched various premises and homes, and by using sniffer dogs were able to find “almost 160,000 euros in cash hidden behind false ceilings and in portable refrigerators” and in other well-concealed places.

“This international operation… shows the leading role of Asian criminal groups in money laundering activities in Europe,” they said.

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