This summer, three Polish citizens rented a chalet near Puerto Banús in Marbella (Málaga, population 150,725). Every evening, two of them left the house, got into a vehicle and approached the entertainment area, where they contacted the bouncers at a nightclub. Then a third compatriot was responsible for the distribution of the agreed product: MDMA in rock, a substance called crystal. They repeated the operation for several days, unaware that the National Police were on their trail. Once the agents gathered enough information and evidence, they went after them. They confiscated the substance from several buyers and then intercepted the car in which they were traveling during one of the transfers from the property to the leisure area. Inside they found two MDMA stones with a total weight of 350 grams. “These operations occur very quickly and frequently,” says one of the police officers who were involved in the investigation and also found the same substance in liquid form, pills or powder – so-called pink cocaine – confiscated in a traffic that is always linked to organized crime. , which takes them to the south of Spain by road or property.
This action from last August is part of the daily routine of the retail group of the National Police Station in Marbella. The same applies to other units along the Costa del Sol in Málaga along the more than 70 kilometers of coastline from Torremolinos to Estepona, which host many nightlife areas with dozens of pubs, discos or beach clubs. They represent the epicenter of designer drugs in the south of Spain, as highlighted in the recent report by the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office, which highlights the “significant sale” of MDMA, MDA and MDEA on the Malaga coast. In fact, last year the National Police carried out several operations that involved some of the largest seizures in the country, some weighing more than 50 kilos, a significant amount for these substances. Added to this are constant small-scale retail incursions that have seen thousands of pills confiscated in coastal towns in recent months. Police sources point to the larger presence of so-called pink cocaine, which is actually a mixture of MDMA, ketamine and caffeine.
Carlos Tejada, anti-drug prosecutor in Marbella, confirms the lines of last year’s report and claims that the presence of these drugs will increase in 2023: “They are a big problem,” he explains to EL PAÍS and then points out, that these compounds – laboratory-made psychostimulants – pose a serious health risk because the consumer does not really know what they are taking. “It is a cheap drug that causes a lot of harm and is present in nightlife: it is the perfect cocktail,” emphasizes an agent who has been studying the distribution of this type of substance on the Malaga coast for more than a decade. A place that, in addition to being an importer, has also assumed an important role as an exporter to Latin America: at the end of 2022, a ship carrying 56 kilos of MDMA was intercepted from the Costa del Sol to Argentina, which would result in between 800,000 of them and 1.2 million pills were produced, which would be worth almost 30 million dollars (around 28.5 million euros) in the South American country.
The prosecution points directly to Puerto Banús and other leisure areas on the Costa del Sol as places where these drugs are most active, as is the case in other popular party tourist destinations such as the Balearic Islands or the Spanish Levant, which also Protagonists of major operations in recent years. The researchers are focusing on large recreational areas. They do their unnoticed, invisible work, which is amplified on weekends and holidays and virtually all summer long. It is precisely those who work at night who are most involved in sales or act as intermediaries between seller and buyer. Sometimes they offer it as an additional service. “They approach customers and inform them that these substances are available on their premises,” say police sources, who confirm that their investigations usually start from neighborhood information, complaints or even social networks.
From retail to international transport
The fight against retail is the first step in ending the trade in designer drugs. It is the final link that allows us to recognize sellers. but also to those who supply them with large quantities. The leadership level gradually rises and the first clues sometimes serve to dismantle an entire criminal organization months later. The retail groups are giving way to others such as the Drug and Organized Crime Unit (UDYCO), which carries out longer-term, large-scale investigations and has already specialized in drug trafficking due to the large number of international gangs that have established themselves in the area. This work made it possible last spring to dismantle a criminal organization based in Mijas, which consisted of people who traveled by plane to the center of Europe and returned in cars loaded with suitcases. They posed as delivery drivers and took the luggage to a house where up to 100,000 MDMA pills worth more than a million euros were found.
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Road transport is in fact the most common way to transport it from the clandestine origin laboratories, generally located in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and other states further east, although there are also facilities of this type on Spanish soil, such as z A dismantling took place last year on the outskirts of Barcelona, in which, in addition to several weapons, 336 kilos of MDMA and large quantities of substances such as amphetamines and ecstasy were confiscated. The small size of this product makes it easy to go unnoticed: a thousand pills fit into every space in the car. In other cases they arrive by package. A medium-sized envelope is enough to discreetly mail a bag containing hundreds of units.
The substance regularly detected by police officers is MDMA, which is formed from various chemical components – so-called precursor substances – which are also the subject of police surveillance and also occur in similar drugs such as MDA or MDEA. It is usually bought in tablet form, the average price of which, according to police, is around twelve euros. It is also available in liquid and even solid form – like the stone seized in Marbella last summer – which the seller processes into small pieces that sell for around 40 euros per gram and are consumed in powder form. However, the modality whose presence has increased the most is the so-called pink cocaine, named for its striking color and because its appearance resembles that drug, although in reality its base is MDMA. Its price is the most expensive: 65 euros per gram. “This is the biggest difference: if in the other cases there are consumers of all types and profiles, in this case they tend to be people with greater purchasing power,” emphasize police sources. They also highlight the sharp increase in the occurrence of nitrous oxide – nitrous oxide – and conclude that other substances, such as the so-called monkey dust or fentanyl, are not currently present on the Costa del Sol.
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