Agents of the National Police have dismantled a clandestine laboratory in Murcia and have intervened in a “tablet-forming” machine capable of manufacturing 10,000 ecstasy pills per hour, as well as two 3D printers with which they made the molds and anagrams of the pills.
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The operation is part of a larger investigation, started in March 2021 and carried out in four phases, which has ended with the arrest of 35 people and the intervention of 158,000 ecstasy pills and more than 40,000 euros.
This last phase in which nine people have been arrested and 5,000 ecstasy pills seized has led to the complete dismantling of the criminal organization under investigation
The investigations began in March 2021 when the agents learned of the existence of a criminal organization, based in the Spanish Levant, dedicated to the production, adulteration and subsequent distribution of synthetic narcotic substances.
With the progress of the investigation, the modus operandi of the network became evident, which consisted of acquiring large amounts of synthetic narcotic substance in different parts of the Spanish geography for its subsequent adulteration and distribution in the form of pills that they manufactured using sophisticated tools in clandestine laboratories.
Likewise, the police efforts allowed to prove that the organization had a pyramidal structure.
The first three phases of the investigation confirmed the continuous and intense criminal activity of the network. In the first of them, carried out in September 2021, the agents arrested eight people and seized 153,000 MDMA ecstasy pills -as well as different amounts of heroin and cocaine-, 30,200 euros in cash and a firearm.
As a result of the second phase, carried out in mid-November 2021, 16 more people were arrested and eight searches were carried out in which numerous weapons and ammunition were located, 10,700 euros in cash, and jewelry from robberies committed by members of the organization.
Finally, in a third phase - carried out last April - the agents arrested the leader of the organization and his sentimental partner when they were transporting 7,730 grams of speed and 2,770 grams of ecstasy, from the capital of Spain to the province of Murcia.
After the arrest of its leader, the investigators detected that the members of the organization were trying to replace him by looking for new suppliers of the substance that they would later adulterate and distribute in the form of pills on the illicit market.
For all of the above, and with the aim of completely dismantling the network, the agents carried out a police operation at the beginning of May that ended with the arrest of 9 people and the practice of 9 simultaneous searches in the Murcian towns of Cartagena (1) , La Unión (4), Fuente Álamo (1), Molina de Segura (2) and Lorquí (1).
In one of the records of La Unión, specifically in a garage, they located and dismantled a clandestine laboratory where the organization produced and adulterated synthetic drugs.
Inside, a "tablet" machine capable of manufacturing 10,000 pills per hour, two 3D printers with which they made the molds and anagrams of the pills, seven dies with different shapes, and large amounts of narcotic and cutting substance intervened.
In addition, as a result of the different searches, the agents located more than 5,000 ecstasy pills with some of the aforementioned anagrams -which proves the existence of an organized multidisciplinary and self-sufficient drug trafficking network-, 1,500 grams of cocaine, 500 grams of ketamine, 900 pills of different medicines, 5,000 euros in cash and a vehicle.
With this fourth and final phase, the criminal organization is considered dismantled, whose investigation as a whole has allowed the arrest of 35 people and the seizure of a total of 158,000 ecstasy pills, 10 kilos of speed, 3 kilos of crystal, 2 kilos of cocaine and more than 40,000 euros in cash, among other effects. ■