The Guardia Civil has carried out operation FERRATI on the island of Ibiza against a criminal organisation dedicated to drug trafficking and money laundering between South America and Europe. In the operation, 8 people were arrested, all of them for crimes of drug trafficking, money laundering and being part of a criminal organisation.
Likewise, 15 searches have been carried out (12 on the island of Ibiza and three in Madrid), where 7.3 kg of cocaine, 4 kg of MDMA, 750 grams of pink cocaine, 14 kg of hashish, 800 gr. of ketamine, 127,000 euro in cash, a Glock 26 pistol with ammunition, a simulated handgun, 19 vehicles, most of them high-end, valued at 2 million euro, have all been seized.
The operation began at the end of 2021, when agents detected the existence of an international organisation dedicated to introducing significant quantities of drugs to the island of Ibiza.
Continuing with the investigations, it was found that the organisation had a network of contacts, companies and infrastructure, which it used to introduce large consignments of drugs into Europe, containers that they transported by sea from the countries of production, mainly Brazil and Colombia, to ports of Valencia, Barcelona, Antwerp and Italy.
At these points they had contacts that facilitated the departure of the merchandise, finally proceeding to its transfer to the final destination, including the island of Ibiza, using both trucks and vehicles with sophisticated concealment systems.
The group dismantled in the Balearic Islands had the necessary infrastructure to acquire part of said merchandise, and later, using sophisticated methods of concealment in luxury vehicles, introduce it from Madrid to the island of Ibiza. Once there it was distributed through various points of sale on the island of Ibiza, as well as some quantities that were transferred to the island of Mallorca. All of this reported a significant economic benefit that was laundered through companies controlled by the organisation.
Among these companies was a luxury vehicle rental company, owned by the organisation, which in addition to laundering money from drug trafficking, was used to introduce cocaine into the Balearic archipelago, using some of the vehicles that had been modified, to install what is commonly known as “caletas”.
