Police dismantle drugs gang that used mules to bring heroin to the Canaries

The National Police have arrested 14 men and a woman between 20 and 61 years old in Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, who were using ‘mules’ to bring heroin in to the Canary Islands by carrying the drugs in wraps inside their bodies on flights from the Netherlands.

According to a report by the Higher Police Headquarters of the Canary Islands, the detainees are of Dominican, Spanish, Colombian and Venezuelan nationalities and have been arrested for being members of a criminal organization and drug trafficking.

Likewise, nine searches have been carried out in towns in Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria in which 1.5 kilos of heroin, 1.4 kilos of cocaine, 275 grams of methamphetamine, and 550 grams of hashish have been seized, with 100,000 euros in cash.

At the beginning of 2019, investigators detected a very active point of sale of narcotic substances in the Schamann neighbourhood of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, from which several individuals were distributing heroin during the day and at night. From this they were able to verify that the drug was being introduced through 'mules' that arrived in the Canary Islands on direct flights from the Netherlands.

For this reason, agents located six travellers (five men and one woman) of Dominican, Nigerian and Spanish nationalities, who were transporting heroin inside their body and who were arrested upon arrival at Gran Canaria airport on two international flights.

Finally, the investigation culminated in five searches in buildings in the capital of Fuerteventura and another four in Gran Canaria in Arucas, Schamann, San José and Ingenio, in which the drugs and cash were seized. At the same time, nine men of Spanish, Colombian and Venezuelan nationalities were arrested, all for belonging to a criminal organization and drug trafficking.

Finally, once the corresponding police report had been issued, all the detainees were placed at the disposal of the competent Judicial Authority, who decreed the entry into prison of eleven of them.