The Civil Guard, within the framework of the operation “HEISENBERG VI-CABARNA”, carried out in Cantabria, the Basque Country, Leon and Catalonia, has dismantled in the Catalan region of Vallés a laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs, one of the most sophisticated discovered in Spain with the capacity to produce a large amount of methamphetamine. Ten people were arrested in the operation, four in Bizkaia, four in Barcelona and two in León.
70 kilos of crystal and powder methamphetamine, 790 litres of methamphetamine in different stages of crystallization, 60 litres of Piperonyl Methyl Ketone (PMK) and Phenyl Metal Propanone (BMK - P2P), two of the main elements for the manufacture of amphetamine, 112 kilos of other precursors and powdered cutting substance and more than 1,700 litres of other precursor substances for the manufacture of amphetamine and methamphetamine have been intervened.
It has been found that the laboratory could synthesize between 5 and 10 kilograms per day of drug, which would have reached a final production of 1.5 tons of drug.
The details of this important operation have been revealed in the press conference offered this morning at the Sansomendi Barracks in Vitoria with the presence of the Government delegates in the Basque Country and Cantabria, Marisol Garmendia and Eugenia Gómez, General José Antonio Mingorance and the heads of the judicial police of the Basque Country and Cantabria, Captains José González (responsible for the operation) and Alfonso Serrano.
The delegate of the Government in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, has congratulated the agents of the Civil Guard for their “professionalism and dedication” in this operation that has allowed “to deal a significant blow to the drug trafficking networks operating in our country.” Thus, he stressed that “the amount of methamphetamine seized is one of the most important in recent years, which demonstrates the magnitude of the operation.” “The Government of Spain will continue to work firmly and decisively to combat drug trafficking and protect citizen security,” he said.
For her part, the delegate of the Government in the Basque Country, Marisol Garmendia, stressed that “the advantage of this Body and its global action, beyond any border, is evident. Thus, it is possible that an operation begins in Cantabria, the research is led by the Basque Country and leads to the dismantling of a synthetic drugs laboratory in Catalonia.”
Research initiated in Cantabria
The germ of the investigation starts from the investigations carried out by the Civil Guard of Cantabria (Judicial Police Organic Unit), which at the beginning of last year managed to find out the existence of an alleged organization dedicated to the production and sale of amphetamine in quantities of notorious importance.
The research was derived from the information gathered about a person living in the Basque Country, as an alleged member of the organization, who introduced the drug in Cantabria.
The initial information was consistent with what was being carried out from the Vitoria Civil Guard Area, which led to the beginning of the joint investigative work that has led to this important operation.
Follow-up work
Throughout the investigation, the work of the Civil Guard of Cantabria has been key. On the one hand, since the criminal organization took important security measures to avoid being detected, the operational work of the investigators of the Civil Guard of Cantabria was directed to technical missions aimed at enabling the monitoring of the members of the organization, with sufficient security so that the agents were not detected.
According to police officials, the members of the organization, especially the “cook”, were “obsessed” with security, so they moved the laboratory to different territories.
To make this monitoring possible, members of the Civil Guard of Cantabria have made long and frequent trips to numerous provinces of the national territory (Vizcaya, León, Barcelona), with long days away from the habitual residence of the agents.
On the other hand, throughout the investigation, the members of the Organic Judicial Police Unit of Cantabria have led the functions of gathering information and processing them.
Explosive properties
The disarticulated organization had established its center of operations in the Catalan region of Vallés, both for the production and distribution of synthetic drugs. Once it was prepared, it was distributed by several Spanish provinces such as Alicante, Bizkaia, Valencia or Andalusia, as well as by several countries of the European Union.
It should be noted that one of the members of the organization lived in an intermediate room of a house in Granollers, where the laboratory was located, which posed a potential danger to the people and goods that faced the storage of large quantities of these chemicals when they were in an urban area.
Many of these substances were highly toxic and highly flammable, such as methanol, to which variations in humidity, pressure and thermal or mechanical changes can alter their explosive properties, so it was supported by personnel and specialized means to dismantle the laboratory safely. To these risks we must add the environmental damage caused by the waste products that are generated in these laboratories and that in this case they poured directly into the sewerage network.
Powerful air extractors with carbon filters to prevent odor
In any case, in terms of the quantity of drug produced, finished product seized, quality of the laboratory assembly and knowledge of its operator, it can be said that we are dealing with one of the most complex and sophisticated of those discovered so far, as well as one of the most productive. The laboratory had powerful air extractors with carbon filters to prevent the smell from being perceived by neighbors.
Travelling lab
The locations where “the chemist” of the organization, now detained, has had the laboratories established sporadically have been in the localities such as Derio (Bizkaia), Valencia de Don Juan (León) or Granollers. This has caused the investigation to be very complex, since the detainees took strict security measures, with continuous changes in the location of the laboratory, sometimes at distances of 600 kilometers.
The operation has been conducted by Examining Court No. 1 of Granollers in Barcelona.
1.5 tons drug
It should be noted that the laboratory was in full operation with utensils such as test tubes, flasks, heaters, low temperature coolers, evaporators, constant speed agitators, low temperature circulators and refrigerators.
It has been found that the laboratory could synthesize between 5 and 10 kilograms per day of drug, which would have reached a final production of 1.5 tons of drug.