ISSUE NO. 1597
11 - 17 February 2016
COSTA BLANCA NORTH YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Denia destroys major drug ring BRITS arrested in record bust of dangerous narcotics
By Matthew Elliott A PAINSTAKING investigation saw a modest Denia courthouse join forces with the British National Crime Agency in a search and destroy mission to wipe out an elaborate international narcotic manufacturing syndicate operating in Marina Alta and Alicante. The sheer scale of the eventual bust hit global headlines as apt comparisons emerged with the cult American TV show ‘Breaking Bad.’
More than 120 kilograms of Apaan were seized by National Police officers swooping on a rural home at an undisclosed location. The compound is an essential precursor to the manufacture of highly addictive amphetamines and was recently banned by a United Nations convention. It was the largest ever seizure of the drug on the European continent and has already had serious ramifications across the criminal underworld.
With a clandestine and modern laboratory unveiled as officers acted on secret intelligence, three Britons and a Dutch national were among the immediate arrests in Spain. Beginning in 2014 at the behest of the Court of Instruction Number Three Denia, the investigation has a long, tangled history as detectives pursued members of the organisation in the UK. It can only be hoped the discovery in Costa Blanca is not an omen of a similar scourge sweeping across Europe.
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