Buying guns in Paris to take them to Cubelles: one of Catalonia's first arms trafficking gangs is brought down.

BarcelonaTypically, in a police investigation, drugs end up leading to weapons. That is, first a marijuana plantation or a shipment of hashish is usually detected, and then the police end up discovering that the traffickers are armed, not so much to attack the police, which is very rare, but to defend themselves against robberies (known as narco-assaults or drug robberies). rollovers) that they suffer at the hands of other criminal groups. An investigation by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) has changed this order of factors and has become one of the first operations by the Catalan police against arms trafficking in Catalonia. As sources within the force admit: the weapons ended up leading to the drugs.

It all began on December 7, 2023, with a coincidence. Two officers stopped a vehicle and inside they found something unusual. It was carrying eight semi-automatic weapons with the serial numbers erased to eliminate their origin. After an analysis by ballistics specialists, they discovered that they were blank-firing weapons that had been manipulated to fire live bullets. "And they weren't weapons manufactured in Catalonia, they came from France," Inspector Isard Hidalgo, head of the Criminal Investigation Area (AIC) of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) in Barcelona, explained at a press conference this Thursday.

This was the starting point of an investigation that has proven how this criminal group bought weapons in Paris and then resold them to Catalonia, an operation that ended on June 3 with eleven arrestsThe center of operations was a secluded house in Cubelles, and over the months, the police discovered they also had a large marijuana plantation in a warehouse in Vilanova i la Geltrú, which produced cannabis for shipment to France. The drugs went up, and the weapons went down. In fact, one of the detainees had an international arrest warrant for a nine-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal organization in France.

"The Fair of Charms"

On June 3rd, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) of the Girona AIC and Customs Surveillance also concluded another year-long investigation, this time against the Albanian marijuana mafia, which had managed to disperse up to eleven marijuana plantations in several single-family homes throughout Catalonia. The operation ended with 29 arrests, of which 15 were remanded in custody. "Catalonia is the fairground of the charms of southern Europe," said Deputy Inspector Carles Martínez, head of the AIC in Girona, referring to drug trafficking. He stated that the liquid societies of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman have also spread to the world of drug trafficking, with increasingly dispersed, heterogeneous, and multinational groups. As ARA also explained in a dossier on drugs this Sunday.

The drug traffickers in Girona, for example, had an Albanian gang that controlled the plantations, and another, rooted in Catalonia, that handled distribution. Those in Barcelona were primarily French, mingling with groups based in France. The drugs seized in both operations amounted to a value of 1.5 million euros, defrauding more than half a million euros from the electricity grid. "They operate like a business," added Antonio Lajusticia, head of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency.

Fired for lack of initiative

It's nothing new for plantation gardeners to travel back and forth between Albania, nor for the leader of the organization to be based in this country and have foremen doing his dirty work in Catalonia. What is less common is for the gardeners to be paid based on production. Twenty percent of the profits if the plantation was operating beyond its capacity, 10% if it was producing what is considered normal, and less if it wasn't producing. Those in Girona even fired a gardener because he lacked "initiative." The strategy was clear: occupy small houses and plant cannabis in every room. And they did it in many different towns. In fact, up to 17 raids were carried out. The investigation is still ongoing and is focusing on how the money was laundered. For example, the police are beginning to understand that the operation involved some hair salons and other similar businesses.

Although this gang was not apparently involved in arms trafficking, they did locate five firearms. Added to the eight from the first criminal group, the total rises to eleven. In 2024, 87 drug robberies were recorded in Catalonia, up to 79 involving marijuana. For this reason, criminal groups arm themselves (and this was no exception) and take extreme security measures when transporting drugs by road to Europe. For example, they make trips with more than one vehicle, one of which is a shuttle that travels a few kilometers ahead and warns if there are any obstacles.

Although the investigations began in Girona and Barcelona, ​​​​they ended up affecting all of Catalonia, as searches were also carried out in Tarragona and Central Catalonia. These operations, which have also had the support of the French police, demonstrate one of the latest trends among drug traffickers. that the ARA explained this Sunday: They're no longer just trafficking one drug. In both cases, they were smuggling marijuana, but also hashish.