These images show Spanish police raiding a cannabis trafficking operation in Malaga and finding hashish hidden inside a large shipment of fake tomatoes that were about to be taken by lorry to France.
The footage shows the Spanish police raiding the suspected drug traffickers, busting down doors and shouting “police” as they apprehend them in Malaga, a port city on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol.
The footage also shows two lorries that were set to smuggle the drugs hidden inside fake tomatoes to France.
Police officers in the footage can be seen handling the fake tomatoes, which appear to be a little too shiny to be real.
The cops can be seen breaking some of the fake tomatoes open to reveal the drugs stashed inside.
Newsflash obtained a statement from the Spanish Guardia Civil on Friday, 20th January, saying: “In a joint investigation by the Civil Guard and the National Police, more than 22 tonnes (about 50,000 lbs) of hashish camouflaged inside fake tomatoes bound for France were seized.”
The cops said that the criminal organisation was led by a resident of Cordoba and had several people who carried out distribution and security tasks, as well as loading and unloading the drugs.
The statement said that ten people were arrested, including two people who tried to hide under one of the lorries, and that eight of them have been detained in prison pending the outcome of the investigation.
The police also said that they had seized seven vehicles used by suspected drug traffickers.
The statement went on: “This is the largest amount of hashish seized in a joint operation carried out by the State Security Forces and Corps of the Cordoba province.”
The police said that they had had their eye on the suspected drug traffickers for some time and in the operation, that they dubbed ‘Operation Califa Trucks’, they raided the premises just as the shipment was set to depart for France.
The cops said: “The operation involved 22,370 kilogrammes [49,317 lbs] of cannabis resin, numerous state-of-the-art mobile phones and the seven vehicles that the criminal organisation had.
“They had concealed the drug inside fake tomatoes to make it difficult to detect. There are ten detainees, eight of whom have already been imprisoned by order of the judicial authority.”
The cops said the operation was centred on Cordoba but also had branches in Malaga and Cadiz.
They added: “The progress of the investigation made it possible to find out that the criminal organization had a complex structure, rich in human, technical and material resources and with a strong economic capacity.
“This, together with extensive logistics, hidden behind an apparent business legality, greatly hindered the operational and analytical work carried out on the different entities that comprise it.
“For this they used “straw” people, with no other responsibility than to appear as managers of the companies used for the rental and/or acquisition of vehicles, real estate, etc.”
The investigation is ongoing.
