Spanish police arrest gang of Polish drug traffickers with ‘military training’

Spanish police have arrested a gang of Polish drugs traffickers with ‘military training’ who used high-end vehicles stolen from Britain and smuggled their narcotics into the UK.

Detectives said five of the 11 luxury vehicles they were using – 10 cars and a motorbike – had been reported stolen in the UK last October and November.

The leader of the gang, described by police on Saturday as a ‘dangerous organisation specialising in the production and genetic modification of marijuana,’ used a high-end vehicle which had been stolen in Manchester.

Marijuana plantation pots produced by the gang pictured. The gang grew their own drugs as well as stealing narcotics from other drug smugglers, investigators say

Police say most of the 13 Polish nationals arrested have served prison time in their home countries – and have described some as fugitives and former soldiers.

Others have been identified as football hooligans subject to banning orders preventing them from entering stadiums in their home countries.

Civil Guard officers on the Costa Blanca where the arrests took place in different locations including Calpe and Alicante, were not able to offer any additional information today on why the gang were using vehicles stolen in the UK.

But they confirmed Britain was one of the destinations for their smuggled drugs along with Holland, France and Poland.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Alicante said: ‘The Civil Guard has arrested 13 people and placed two more under investigation as part of an operation called Extinde.

One of the stolen cars retrieved from the raid. Police say most of the 13 Polish nationals arrested have served prison time in their home countries – and have described some as fugitives and former soldiers

‘The detainees are suspected of belonging to an international criminal gang.

‘Three thousand marihuana plants have been seized during 11 raids and 11 high-end vehicles, five of which were stolen in the UK, have been confiscated along with three pistols with silencers.’

The gang grew their own drugs as well as stealing narcotics from other drug smugglers, investigators say.

The Civil Guard spokesman, describing the gang as having military training, added: ‘It was highly specialised and used advanced techniques to watch and follow rival gangs who were also involved in the growing and distribution of marihuana whose properties they would then attack with great violence.

Pistols, walkie talkies and cash recovered from the raid

‘They would use stolen vehicles, firearms and masks used by different fictional characters in those attacks.

‘The electronic equipment they used to detect targets they would then rob included frequency inhibitors, telescopic cameras and walkie talkies.’

The cannabis they produced themselves were often new strains, officers said.

The drugs were sold over the internet and smuggled abroad in the form of cannabis oil by road among imported fruit, drinks or food, or by post using unsuspecting courier firms.