Spanish police have dismantled a criminal organisation responsible for smuggling large quantities of cocaine hidden in slabs of marble into the southern European country, in a joint operation with authorities in Brazil.
The operation conducted together with the customs surveillance branch of tax agency SVA and the Federal Police of Brazil resulted in the arrest of three people and the seizure of nearly 1,500 kilograms of cocaine.
The investigation began in November after agents detected suspicious activity involving the import of marble tables, countertops and sinks from Brazil. After further probe, police uncovered that the marble was used to hide the narcotics.
To further conceal the cocaine, the drug traffickers used concealed air fresheners and perfumes inside the contraband during transport, according to authorities.
Police say the mob tested their shipping routes before any smuggling activity to verify whether the routes they used were under police surveillance.
The shipments were then transported by air to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and then distributed by road to various industrial warehouses across the country.
One of the largest shipments at Belo Horizonte airport in Brazil, where 1,200 kilograms of cocaine concealed in marble tables, bound for Spain, was seized as part of the investigation.
Meanwhile, the authorities tracked another shipment of marble sinks that had remained at Madrid airport's cargo terminal, awaiting customs clearance.
This shipment was taken to an industrial warehouse in Vilanova i la Geltrú near Barcelona, where Spanish special forces GEO and counter-terrorism unit GOES carried out a raid.
Inside the shipment, authorities discovered 250 kilograms of cocaine distributed in more than 200 packages. They also seized a van, a truck, several mobile phones and cash.
Two men were initially arrested during the operation. Police say they tried to destroy their mobile phones when police units showed up unannounced. A third member of the group was subsequently identified and arrested.
The suspects were brought before the court on suspicion of drug-trafficking and membership of a criminal organisation.
