A British cocaine network operating from Spain’s Costa del Sol has been smashed after police seized more than a tonne of the drug, arrested a British suspect and launched an international hunt for five others who fled Spain.

A van full of sports bags started it all

The Guardia Civil’s Operación Miscelanea began when officers stopped a van in Talavera la Real, a town in Badajoz, and found 17 sports bags stuffed with 423 kilos of cocaine.

Days later, officers were following another suspicious vehicle when they intercepted a van on an industrial estate in Baza, in Granada province, with 326 kilos hidden in several suitcases. The driver, who’s of British origin, was arrested.

Rifles and ammunition turned up in Estepona

That arrest led officers to a search in Estepona, in Málaga province, where another 265 kilos of cocaine turned up, along with equipment for sealing and packing the drug.

They also found a rifle, a submachine gun, a semi-automatic pistol (a handgun that reloads itself), plenty of ammunition and cash. Altogether, the three seizures add up to 1,014 kilos of cocaine moved around Spain in vans and suitcases, in a country where many people assume ‘the big loads only ever arrive at the ports’. 

The drugs were heading to Britain by sea 

According to the Guardia Civil, the gang received large amounts of cocaine at a home where its members lived on the Costa del Sol, then moved it on to ports around Spain. 

To do that, they used the so-called ‘go fast’ method (powerful, high-performance cars and large-capacity vans that move the drugs quickly). From there, the cocaine was shipped by sea to Britain.

Five main suspects slipped out of Spain

The rest of the gang managed to leave Spain after the Baza arrest, and a court was asked to issue five international arrest warrants against the main suspects. The Guardia Civil hasn’t said where they went or who they are.

Meanwhile, the driver was brought before the duty judge in Estepona, who ordered him to be held in prison without bail. For now the five remain at large, and any arrests will depend on those warrants being acted on.

Cocaine seized in the Operación Miscelanea investigation. Credit: Guardia Civil

The Guardia Civil has busted a British narco gang that transported cocaine from the Costa del Sol to the UK.