The National Court convicts five drug traffickers who used a warehouse in Antequera to hide almost 700 kilos of hashish. The industrial estates in Málaga are considered 'hotspots' for drug trafficking.
A ruling by the National Court has highlighted the industrial estates in the province of Málaga as strategic enclaves for drug trafficking. The court has established that a warehouse in the Antequera industrial estate was used to store and prepare a shipment of 665.8 kilos of hashish before it was sent to Galicia. The ruling, issued by the Third Section of the Criminal Chamber, convicts five members of a criminal organisation dedicated to international drug trafficking.
The events date back to April 2020, when two of the accused agreed to profit from the distribution of large quantities of hashish. The chosen infrastructure to hide, prepare, and load the drugs was a warehouse located on Avenida del Romeral, in the Antequera industrial estate. According to investigators, these types of business areas provide criminal networks with an ideal cover to operate away from the police pressure present on the Costa del Sol.
The operation was triggered when a Mercedes Vito van loaded with over 665 kilos of hashish arrived at an open area next to the Shell service station, near the ITV of Antequera. There, the exchange took place between several members of the network. Subsequently, the vehicle was moved to the warehouse, where the drugs were stored and prepared for transport to Galicia.
Hours later, an articulated lorry arrived at the site and the merchandise was loaded into the trailer using a Toyota forklift, while one of the accused supervised the operation. The vacuum-packed bundles were hidden among pallets of oil containers to hinder detection. However, the Civil Guard, which had already been monitoring the warehouse for months, managed to intercept the trailer during a routine check in Bélmez (Córdoba). There, they discovered the 665.8 kilos of hashish hidden in the semi-trailer, with a market value of three million euros.
The ruling highlights that police investigations had already detected suspicious movements in that warehouse prior to the major seizure. The Civil Guard considered the industrial estates in Málaga as “hotspots” for drug trafficking, a thesis that the National Court supports in its ruling. The court describes a complex criminal structure made up of accused individuals primarily based in Málaga, Pontevedra, and Seville.
For the residents of Antequera, this ruling serves as a wake-up call regarding the presence of organised crime in their municipality. Although the seized warehouse is located in an industrial area, authorities remind that these enclaves are used by networks to store and redistribute drugs to other points in Spain and Europe. The conviction of the five drug traffickers, whose sentences have not been detailed, reinforces the need to maintain vigilance in these industrial estates.
The National Court also emphasizes that the plot began to take shape in April 2020, when two of the suspects agreed to profit from the distribution of hashish. The Antequera warehouse became the nerve centre of the operation, demonstrating that the interior of the province is not immune to drug trafficking. The Civil Guard continues to investigate possible connections of the network with other organisations, while the ruling sets a precedent regarding the use of industrial estates for illicit activities.
You may also like
