Maica Larriba presented this morning the balance of Operation Matoxo, carried out by the UDYCO of Pontevedra and which allowed the seizure of a large amount of this substance

The deputy delegate of the Government in Pontevedra, Maica Larriba, presented this morning together with the provincial commissioner of Pontevedra, Juan José Díaz, and the head of Udyco Pontevedra, José Abreu, the balance of the so-called ‘Operation Matoxo’, an operation against heroin trafficking developed by the Udyco II Group of Pontevedra and directed by the Examining Court No. 5 of Vigo.
The operation took place on April 2 and 3 and resulted in the arrest of two people, accused of a crime of drug trafficking, and the confiscation of 24 kilos of this drug.
Second explained the subdelegate, in the afternoon of April 2, the agents intercepted a vehicle in which they were hidden, in the rear side panels, at the height of the seats, 40 wrappers of half a kilo each, containing heroin. After what was found, the officers proceeded to arrest the two drivers of the car. In addition, there are five mobile phones - one of them encrypted -, a tablet and various documentation.
The following day, as a continuation of the investigations, a garage rented by one of the detained persons was entered and searched. Another 4.2 kilos of this same substance were found in space, bringing the total apprehension of heroin in the framework of this operation to 24,546 kilos.
Maica Larriba explained that the amount seized represents a seizure of great relevance since in 2021 the total amount of this drug confiscated in Galicia was 39 kilos, in 2020 it was 28 kg and in 2019 it was 12. “In other words, this seizure is more than double that confiscated in Galicia during 2019 or more than 60% of that confiscated in 2021 in the autonomous community as a whole.”
For his part, the provincial commissioner, Juan José Díaz, explained that “it is important to bear in mind that the seizure of heroin in large quantities is much more complex than the seizure of other substances, such as cocaine or hashish, since its production and much less, which together with its means of introduction in Spain, usually by carreteira, limits its quantity”.
The subdelegate of the Government also wanted to highlight the work of the agents within the framework of this operation and highlight the work of the Udyco of this Provincial Commissariat, which in recent years “carried out many operations against the illegal trafficking of this narcotic substance, highlighting the seizures of 2016 and 2017, which established two European records in seizures, with 56 and 64 kilos of heroin confiscated respectively.” The last ten years, this unit interviu in the province a total of 236.5 kilos of heroin.