Police in Europe uncovered a large international organized crime network this week
and captured a remarkable trophy — a spanking new narco sub, this one found still under construction
in a warehouse in Spain, making it the first-known narco sub constructed in Europe. Investigators are
pretty sure they know who this beast belongs to, because the suspected boss was arrested
at the airport in Barcelona. In his luggage he was carrying plans and documents for its construction
The Mob Reporter here with news of a burst of creativity by European gangsters building
a business that, had it been legal, might be the modern model for a startup corporation —
innovative, diversified, multinational, and highly profitable. Let me tell you about it
Police in Spain launched a series of raids recently in towns and cities
along its fabulous Mediterranean coast. Their targets were members of an organization moving
large quantities of coke from South America, hashish from Morocco and homegrown pot for
distribution in Spain, France, Britain, Italy, and Germany. 52 people were arrested after 47 raids
They are mostly from Spain in Europe, Colombia in South America and the Dominican Republic
in the Caribbean. While the raids went quickly, busting this network was a year in the making
Throughout the last 10 months, several shipments were picked off on their way
to Spain, with the help of police in Colombia, Britain and Belgium
Just short of three tons of coke was seized over the months, while investigators worked to
narrow in on who was behind it. The next break for them came in November 2020
The place was Tarragona, a port city just south of Barcelona where investigators said many of
the primary members lived. Six homes were raided, 13 people arrested, and some 75 kilos of coke seized
Then by February, another branch of the organization had been tracked to the Costa Del Sol
This group. police say, was running hashish through the Strait of Gibraltar and up the Mediterranean
coast. Shipments were destined for France, Britain and Italy and their harvest from a local grow
up being sold in Germany. Police believe they were using the profits from these operations
to fund their South American deals. During the raids, officers seized a narcolancha
a high-speed boat for darting runs across the water. This one was 15 meters long
with high-horsepower engines along with 7,000 liters of gasoline and portable jugs
And then they found the beast. This narco sub has unique design. It's much boxier than its brethren
Narco subs usually look more like, well submarines. This one looks more like an underwater narco barge
It is smaller than the narco sub Spanish authorities found in 2019. That one made its way
across the Atlantic to Europe from Colombia, which I've told you about before. I'll put links to those
videos here and in the description below. This narco sub is nine meters long, three meters wide
and three meters deep. Not exactly svelte. It was capable of carrying two tons of product at a time
It seemed designed for shorter journeys. The theory is it was meant to travel just off the
coast to meet larger ocean-going vessels arriving from South America and then do a ship-to-ship
transfer of the product to the sub and then sneak it onto Spanish soil
It was nearly complete when officers found it, but had not yet had a test voyage let alone been used
on a run. Its builders used the keel of a small boat as a base and built up around it with plywood
and fiberglass — all designed to ride super low in the water, with only the top deck above the surface
Almost all of the hull would be below the water line and out of sight. It had two engines of 200
horsepowers each, controlled from an interior console where the steering
wheel and the clutch and acceleration levers of the engines were located. Investigators
found it in a warehouse in Mondo, a tiny town in the mountains just inland from the coast
Although small and fairly remote, with just 2,000 residents, Mondo was linked by highways
to larger centers, where narcos congregate. It's an interesting place. Mondo in recent years has found
new prosperity in the underworld and in this case i literally mean the underworld — last year
police found an illicit underground cigarette factory churning out 3.5 thousand
tax-avoiding cigarettes an hour. Workers lived underground for a week at a time, working 12-hour
shifts, as machines pumped in fresh air to keep them working — and keep them alive. Welcome to the
real underground economy. It's doubtful this was the only one, and now Mondo offers a new surprise
This new narco sub was unveiled to the world on Friday, March 12, 2021, under guard and in storage
Just as the network behind it was international so too was the investigation it involved officers
from Britain, Colombia, United States, Netherlands, Portugal, and Europol, the European Union's police
agency. The organization they targeted was well organized and well-resourced. They had boats, trucks
warehouses, industrial buildings, laboratories, laboratory equipment, luxury apartments, and homes
They were importing, exporting, moving, processing, harvesting, and distributing to several European
markets. In Barcelona, a clandestine laboratory was found. Police described it as sophisticated
for the purpose of extracting and processing the packages that arrived
They came not in the usual brick form but pressed into thin strips, each weighing 350 grams
and stashed inside bags of coconut fiber substrate. This is stuff often used in gardening and reptile
and amphibian habitat. Bags and bags of the stuff were found, In fact, officers went through
2,200 bags of coconut fiber to find 300 kilos of contraband hidden inside. This is when one of the
suspected bosses tried to flee. Officers caught him at the airport trying to get on a plane to holland
and that's where plans and documentation for the narco-sub were apparently found in his luggage
Also arrested were several of those accused of shipping hashish to Britain through Portugal
This is all further evidence of the important place Spain now holds as the gangland gateway
to Europe: hashish from Morocco, cocaine from South America, it's homegrown cannabis — the flow
is constant. Foreign gangsters are settling in the coastal regions to ensure they get a piece of it
South and Central American narcos, Russian and Eastern European mobsters
Italian Mafia, outlaw bikers, British gangsters, Chinese triads, Moroccan traffickers
and others with roots in northwest africa who now hold European citizenship
The Costa del Sol is becoming a crowded underworld hot spot and the gangsters are
sorting out their roles, forcing their way into whatever role they can dominate
or at least profit from. More evidence of the sheer size and scale of the operations in Spain
came the day before the narco sub was unveiled. In a separate investigation, officers targeted
traffickers who were racing up and down the entire Mediterranean coastline of Spain in narcolanchas
powered by 300 horsepower engines. Police called them the Formula 1 racers of the sea
These boats were banned three years ago because few people used them for fishing
So these guys made them mobile and hidden, keeping their boats in covered trucks
and hauling them to different areas around the Mediterranean for their launch
It's the same way armies move mobile missile launchers to avoid detection
After both of these significant operations, the questions remain of who will move in to
replace them, and what methods might they concoct to keep their operations secret — until they aren't
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