The Guardia Civil wisely christened this anti-drug operation “Amor” because it was a gang of drug traffickers allegedly dedicated to the manufacture and export of pink cocaine from Madrid to other countries, rendered in 3D – Print was hidden for Valentine’s Day. The group had two leaders, a 47-year-old man of Colombian nationality named El Mago, referred to in police jargon as a cook, or responsible for synthesizing drugs and making figurines to hide them, and another, 37-year-old also Colombian, who posed as a marketing manager and gave him the pretext of operating and hiding the laboratory in an office in the heart of the capital. In addition to arresting the two masterminds, who are in custody, the agents also arrested seven other people from the gang’s lower ranks, all Colombians: two other men and five young women who were acting as couriers for shipments. The seven people are at large on charges and a further seven people are being investigated for their connection to the conspiracy.
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The El Mago gang, “the main protagonist of the organization,” had been operating since at least the end of 2022, when the other leader, “the cover,” showed up at an office building at 35 Cristóbal Street between Bordiu and Bravo Murillo and Agustín de Betancourt, in the Chamberí district, to rent a space to set up a donation company, a spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil has told this newspaper. The man claimed to be a marketing manager and went to work every day to make it all seem normal and legal. Behind the room where the public was served, the bureau hid a drug lab and some 3D printers, which didn’t raise suspicions since pink cocaine isn’t a drug that produces odors or gases when it’s made.
The magician made this drug, also called tucibí, tusi or colored powder, by crushing and mixing ketamine pills (a dissociative drug with hallucinogenic potential) and MDMA (ecstasy), to which he gave the finishing touch: pink dye. Because although it’s pink and sometimes even smells like strawberries, it usually doesn’t contain a trace of cocaine, but rather other cheaper drugs like these. It is fashionable in the poshest of environments, since a gram sells for 80, 90 and even 100 euros, while the same amount of real cocaine costs around 60 euros.
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During the routine checks carried out at the Civil Guard office at Barajas Airport on everything leaving and entering the country, alarms were raised by a series of suspicious shipments declared as gifts: they had the same destination in Colombia and Australia The people who sent them were repeated and they were small packages, while these types of shipments are usually made more frequently from time to time and many small shipments are grouped to make them economical. The head of the Court of Inquiry No. 28 in Plaza de Castilla gave permission to open one of them and indeed they contained Valentine’s Day gifts but also a false bottom where the pink cocaine was hidden. A total of five shipments, each containing about 800 grams of Pink Coca-Cola or MDMA, were intercepted last February.
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The next step, identifying the senders, was not easy as the conspiracy involved the use of stolen documentation from third parties unaffiliated with the organization sending the shipments. As part of the investigation, the Guardia Civil identified five young women responsible for sending the package under false names using public transport. The common link to all was Cristóbal Bordiu’s office, where the agents found out that the gift figurines were made in 3D format. From there, the leaders of the group that controlled the rest of the participants operated.
After identifying the members of the gang, they arrested nine people, five women and four men, including the two masterminds of the conspiracy, aged between 28 and 37, with the exception of the eldest, El Mago, who is 47. None of those arrested did this, a record for drug trafficking, and El Mago did, but there was one other thing: drunk driving. All are Colombian nationals, except for one of the men on the bottom scale, who has dual Spanish and Colombian nationality. In addition, “a subgroup” of seven people are being investigated for “having engaged in theft of documents from third parties in order to carry out broadcasts on their behalf” and thereby misled the agents.
The detainees are accused of crimes against public health (drug trafficking) and belonging to a criminal organization. The two leaders are in custody while the rest of the accused are at large. The Guardia Civil conducted two searches, one at the Madrid office and the other at a storage room in the Madrid city of Torrejón de Ardoz, which found 4,300 grams of MDMA, as well as more than 400 grams of other narcotics.
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