Spanish authorities announced on Monday that they had dismantled a major drug trafficking network accused of hiding cannabis in a fake humanitarian convoy destined for Ukraine to send to several European countries.
According to the Spanish Guardia Civil, a total of thirty people were arrested as part of this operation, which was carried out in several cities in Andalusia (south), including Seville, Malaga and Granada.
The suspects, of Spanish, Ukrainian, German and Moroccan nationality, sourced their supplies “from cannabis plantations scattered across Andalusian territory,” the Civil Guard said in a statement.
To export their goods, they “hid them in boxes” which they passed off as “provisions and humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” the statement added.
For this purpose, a fake “solidarity caravan” was set up with vans licensed in Ukraine. The traffickers “thought so that they would go unnoticed at police and border controls,” underscores the press release.
According to the Guardia Civil, almost 800,000 euros were seized during the operation, as well as six firearms and 2,500 cannabis plants.