THE Policia Nacional has dismantled Spain’s biggest-ever ecstasy laboratory and seized 1,900 litres of MDMA with a street value of €105 million.
12 men of Moroccan, Dutch and Spanish nationalities have been arrested in Sueca(Valencia province) and Altea on the Costa Blanca.
Five searches- four in Altea and one in Sueca- were carried out on January 17 which netted 1,900 litres of MDMA, 1,000 litres of ingredients to produce ecstasy, and an additional 1,000 litres of chemical waste.
A Policia Nacional news conference held in Alicante on Wednesday revealed details of the operation to bring down the ecstasy gang.
The probe started in October when police became aware of the existence of a criminal network that was producing synthetic drugs.
Surveillance started on a rural property in Altea la Vella, where the two Moroccan ringleaders were based.
Officers spotted gang members entering and leaving the building with industrial-type masks, as well as with plastic jugs.
In addition, there was a ‘strong stench of chemicals’ in the vicinity.
Tasks were distributed among the crew with one of them transporting drug makers to the laboratory while another took the products to storage areas before distributing them to purchasers.
Another member of the gang was responsible for security to avoid rival drug gangs from stealing the ecstasy with another person with no criminal record rented the properties used in the criminal operation.
All of the crew adopted security measures to avoid police investigation, using up to 10 vehicles to hinder any surveillance of their illegal activities.
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