The Guardia Civil Guard has dismantled the “Farruku Clan”, one of the most important criminal organisations in Europe.
The investigation culminated in the dismantling of a criminal organisation dedicated to drug trafficking worldwide. Police carried out 21 searches, and arrested 17 people in the provinces of Cádiz, Málaga, Madrid, Barcelona, and Toledo. A further 20 people are also under investigation.
The “Farruku Clan”
The organisation, known internationally as the “Farruku Clan”, was led by a dangerous group of Albanians, mostly settled in Spain. From their bases in Spain, they had the capacity to operate anywhere in the world.
Seized
During the course of the investigation, numerous drug seizures in different European countries have been attributed to the organisation. These total almost 10,000 kilos of cocaine and 10,000 kilos of hashish. Two tons of cocaine were seized in the port of Algeciras in January 2022
So far, 25 vehicles and 22 real estate properties with an approximate value of over €4.2 million have been seized. Furthermore, the accounts/products of 14 individuals and 30 companies have been blocked.
Operation PROPER
Within the framework of Operation PROPER, the Guardia Civil worked in collaboration with Europol. The “Farruku Clan” were dedicated mainly to introducing large quantities of cocaine from South America throughout Europe.
The operation began in September 2021 when the police detected a group of people who were preparing to introduce a large amount of cocaine hidden in a container through the Port of Algeciras. This fact was confirmed in January 2022, when two tons of cocaine hidden in a container from Guayaquil (Ecuador), which was transporting frozen hake, were seized in the Port.
Thanks to this intervention, it was possible to demonstrate that those responsible for the drug were members of an organisation that was being investigated.
From that moment on, researchers carried out painstaking work to identify and locate other members of the organisation. They specifically worked to determine their position in the hierarchical structure, including their leaders. During this process, they discovered the organisation was responsible for other attempts to introduce cocaine that were apprehended by police forces in other European countries.
Other European Ports
Consequently, it was possible to link to the organisation numerous actions that reflect the great capacity it had to introduce large quantities of cocaine through the main European ports in the last two years in Italy, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, the Netherlands, or Spain.
In total, almost 10,000 kilos of cocaine have been seized and 39 people have been detained throughout Europe in all this time. These arrests are in addition to those made during the exploitation of this operation. To these numbers must be added another 10,000 kilos of hashish seized in Portugal. However, this hash was not intended to be distributed as usual. The objective here was to replace each kilo of hashish from Morocco with a kilo of cocaine in South America.
Kilo-Kilo
This unusual practice, known as kilo-kilo, is typical of powerful criminal organisations that have sufficient infrastructure to move large amounts of drugs between South America and Europe. It is a perfect deal, in which two organizations agree to exchange hashish for cocaine, mutually taking advantage of the low price of each product at source (hashish in Europe and cocaine in South America) and the high sales price at destination.
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