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The Spanish police, in cooperation with the Hamburg police and Europol, have busted an international drug gang that is said to have regularly smuggled large quantities of marijuana and hashish into Hamburg.
During the large-scale operation codenamed “guilt”, 48 search warrants were carried out in various regions of Spain and two in Hamburg, the Guardia Civil announced on Monday.
During this and earlier attacks, 44 people were arrested and international arrest warrants were issued against 19 fugitive gang members.
In addition, 650 kilograms of marijuana, 51 kilograms of hashish and 4.2 million euros in cash and 26 cars were confiscated.
The investigators also confiscated a pistol, two stun guns, five money counting machines and GPS trackers for locating vehicles, it said.
Drugs mostly hidden in mobile homes or trucks
Since 2017, the gang is said to have smuggled between 100 and 200 kilograms of marijuana and hashish from Spain to Hamburg every week, mostly hidden in mobile homes or trucks.
The masterminds were in Hamburg, while the drugs were bought up by helpers in the clearly structured organization, especially in southern Spain, and hidden in the vehicles, according to the investigators.
The drugs were paid for from Hamburg via the Hawala system.
With this system, which originated in Muslim countries, only cash is transferred past banks without checking the origin of the money or registering the payer and recipient.
It is forbidden in Germany, but is still used, often by criminals, to cover up money flows.
According to the Guardia Civil, the investigations, shadowing of suspects and confiscation of individual drug shipments in Spain and France had already begun at the end of 2021.
wit/dpa