The National Police have dismantled a methamphetamine laboratory located in Almenar (Lleida) run by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The agents have arrested 13 people, seven of whom are Mexican: five from the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, in Jalisco, and two others from Sinaloa. The criminal organization introduced almost 2.5 tons of methamphetamine dissolved in a legal shipment of 12 tons of liquid vanilla aroma from Mexico, which passed through France, and was cooked in Catalonia.
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“It has been prevented that the itinerant Mexican organizations in Europe establish a laboratory again in Catalonia,” celebrated the chief commissioner of the Central Narcotics Brigade of the National Police, Alberto Morales, in a press conference. The drug traveled from Mexico, camouflaged in a legal shipment of 12 tons of liquid vanilla aroma packaged in bottles, which had France as its final destination. From there it was transported to the laboratory in Lleida from where the methamphetamine was extracted.
“In a farmhouse in the middle of the countryside, with everything wallpapered and lined with aluminum foil, they work to evaporate the product,” said Alejandro Martín, chief inspector of the synthetics section of the narcotics brigade, this Wednesday. The National Police investigators estimate that the criminal gang was capable of extracting about 800 kilos of this drug in two days.
“The criminal structure came to work expressly in Catalonia and returned to their country,” detailed commissioner Morales, about the joint investigation they have carried out with France. The case began in early June, when the French authorities detected a maritime container from Mexico suspected of transporting narcotic substances with Spain as the final destination.
In the surveillance and monitoring operation, the National Police discovered that the suspects first deposited the drug in a logistics company in Santa Perpetua de la Mogoda (Barcelona). From there it was moved to a warehouse in Rubí (Barcelona), and several weeks later, to the laboratory in Almenar (Lleida). On July 10, the agents raided the house used to cook the drug, along with other homes, and arrested the 13 suspects, 12 of whom have been imprisoned.
The members of the criminal network had different roles, such as handling the reception of the shipment and coordinating transports, security and counter-surveillance tasks, or working in the clandestine laboratory, to which five of the detained persons were assigned. Seven raids and searches were carried out in Barcelona (5), Lleida (1), and Tarragona (1). In addition to the seized drugs, the agents confiscated 6 vehicles and abundant chemical and industrial material.
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