Hash among the greenhouses of Almería: a new blow to the Pintaos clan

Almost 3,000 hectares of greenhouses turn the municipality of Adra (Almería, 25,148 inhabitants) into a labyrinth of plastic. To travel the area is to enter a confusing network of roads by the sea that the Pintaos clan, a local drug trafficking organization based on the Almeria coast for at least two decades, knew very well. The complexity of police surveillance, the proximity to the beaches and the tangle of agricultural infrastructure have served them to smuggle drugs in large quantities over the years, according to investigations. Now, an operation carried out by the Civil Guard in the last nine months has allowed the seizure of six tons of hashish and the arrest of a score of members of the clan, including the leaders.It is not the first time that this criminal organization has been dismantled: in the summer of 2018 the Civil Guard also cut off its structure with the arrest of 15 people and the intervention of another nine tons of hashish.

Los Pintaos is a well-known clan settled between Adra and Berja (12,415 inhabitants), municipalities to the west of the province of Almería. According to Civil Guard sources, many of its members have numerous records and arrests for different crimes related to drug trafficking. They have been tracked for two decades, although it is not ruled out that they began their activity earlier. They have no known trade, although they led a modest life, according to the police account, which highlights how after the coup received in 2018 the organization has managed to rebuild itself, probably because few have stepped foot in jail or are awaiting trial. But if they then hid the hashish at the bottom of the sea, from where they were rescued by divers to later hide them in storage rooms in different coastal towns,This time the greenhouses, their surroundings and their tools have been the epicenter of their illegal business, in which they also used fast and recreational boats to carry drugs to the west of Almeria.

Those now detained used agricultural vehicles such as tractors or trailers to transport narcotic substances or take speedboats to the nearest beach to carry out their illegal activity. In the greenhouses they also hid the caches, hiding the bundles from the police surveillance. They also hid themselves under the plastic when necessary. And when they had to escape, they took advantage of their knowledge of a network of roads "with a thousand variants and where it is very difficult to block all the exits," say sources of the investigation, who also emphasize that it is not strange that during the surveillance work the agents found sharp objects scattered on the ground to puncture the wheels of the patrol cars. The Pintaos operated especially in Adra,hence the operation has been called Abdera, referring to the name of the Phoenician settlement on which the town stands.

The investigation experienced one of its high points last April. Then, the Civil Guard surprised the organization while unloading bundles of a narcolancha between the beaches of Almerimar and El Ejido. The boat escaped to the sea and a van loaded with drugs fled at full speed by road followed by the agents. The pursuit extended for more than 30 kilometers along the A-7 motorway, with the underside of the vehicle throwing sparks as it brushed against the asphalt. The driver did not allow his pursuers to overtake him with dangerous maneuvers and when two patrol cars stopped him, he also managed to avoid them. “The agents had to throw themselves to the ground to avoid being run over. The driver did not hesitate to continue on his way, taking what was needed ahead of him ”, add the same sources.Due to the sudden movements, even the doors of the van were opened revealing the bales of hashish inside. Finally, it hit the median of the road. Inside there were almost 1,500 kilos of drugs distributed in 47 bundles.

A month earlier, the Civil Guard had seized 470 kilos of hashish in two other vans located in a warehouse that was under surveillance. And previously, in December 2020, investigators acted on a beach in Adra when the organization was towing a narco-boat loaded with 3,800 liters of gasoline and satellite phones on a tractor, which ended up overturning in the sand after being left running. Already in spring, the operation entered its final stretch. First on the Almeria coast - where the agents seized another 720 kilos of hashish - and later in Castellón, where they found another 2.5 tons of the same substance. Finally, the last coup took place in June at the Almerimar marina, in El Ejido. There, two people were detained while loading bales from a recreational boat to a passenger car.

The Abdera operation has culminated in the arrest of 20 people for crimes of criminal organization, against public health and against road safety. In addition, six tons of hashish, 6,000 liters of gasoline, 12 vehicles, six high-speed boats and one recreational boat have been seized. All this adds to the blow that the same clan received in August 2018, when among the effects intervened by the Civil Guard there were nine tons of hashish, a jet ski, two narco-boats, 17 vehicles, a fishing boat, diving equipment and visors. nocturnal, among other effects.