With Santería, Peaky Blinders Berets and Industrial Machinery: This Is How The CJNG Sought To Establish Itself in Spain

The right-hand man of one of the biggest drug lords in the Neapolitan Camorra and four Mexicans wearing Peaky Blinders berets wanted to establish a franchise of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and they used, for example, Santería rituals to ensure cocaine reached Spain without problems.

This branch was shut down by Spanish police officers specializing in the fight against drugs and organized crime, along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Dutch police, in an operation that resulted in 20 arrests, 15 of whom are already in prison.

What is known about the Spanish cell of the CJNG?

All of them with different backgrounds and nationalities—Spanish, Mexican, Colombian, and Italian—linked in a structure belonging to the CJNG, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, which was dedicated to smuggling large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamines from Latin America, especially Costa Rica, hidden in heavy industrial machinery.

This significant police operation thwarts the establishment in Spain of a criminal organization that was “exploring” routes to introduce narcotics into both Spain and Europe through the ports of Porto in Portugal and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, as officials revealed this Tuesday.

Cocaine bales with an unprecedented double logo.

Small seizures in Bilbao and Valencia more than a year ago led agents of the Central Drug and Organized Crime Unit (UDYCO) to the organization that marked its merchandise with two logos, something unprecedented, since the bales usually only have one sticker to distinguish the origin of the drugs.

Following these seizures, agents located several industrial properties in central Spain, where the drugs were coordinated, stored, and guarded.

From other properties in Talavera de la Reina, in central Toledo, they received and shipped industrial machinery with the drugs concealed inside to Italy, where they had links to the Neapolitan Camorra.

In fact, this September, the first shipment of cocaine was detected through the right-hand man of Raffaele Imperiale, one of the most important drug traffickers affiliated with the Camorra and on the list of most wanted fugitives until his arrest in Dubai in 2021.

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A Spanish Businessman, Key Figure in the New ‘Office’

Among the 20 arrested in Spain are this Italian and a Colombian, considered two “high-value” targets for the DEA, as well as the latter’s son and another Colombian citizen who acted as a liaison with the former and performed Santería rituals.

At the time of his arrest, the Colombian Santería practitioner was wearing a hat that he said he couldn’t remove for a year as a superstition to avoid arrest and ensure the shipments arrived without incident.

He wasn’t the only one arrested wearing head coverings, according to sources involved in the police operation.

Mexican nationals, the New Peaky Blinders

While the four Mexican nationals arrested, the cartel’s emissaries who could only remain in Spain for three or four months, also liked to wear caps—in this case, the iconic peaked caps of the characters from Peaky Blinders, the television series about a gang of Birmingham gangsters in the late 19th century.

Another key figure in this operation, according to sources, is the arrested Spanish businessman, with no prior criminal record, who was in charge of providing logistical support to this Mexican cartel “office” through several companies and laundering drug money by purchasing dozens of silver ingots and coins that can fetch up to two thousand euros per kilo.

Investigators believe the organization had reactivated its operational structure in anticipation of a drug shipment, incorporating the new Mexican members sent specifically by the cartel.

Police seized approximately 70 kilograms of silver, along with 1,870 kilograms of cocaine, 375 kilograms of amphetamine, €275,000 in cash, cryptocurrency worth $15,000, three handguns, and 15 vehicles.

The operation was directed by the Central Court of Instruction Number 2 of the National Court and the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office.

Source: Milenio