Spain has arrested a senior police officer after €20 million was discovered hidden in the walls of his home as part of an investigation. Largest cocaine bust in Japan’s history.
Oscar Sánchez Gil, described as prudent and hard-working, was most recently head of the Spanish National Police’s anti-fraud and money laundering unit in Madrid.
Police officials arrested him last week along with 15 others, including his girlfriend, a police source told AFP. Officials did not reveal the name of his girlfriend, who is also a police officer in the Madrid region.
During the raid, police found hidden objects hidden in the walls and ceilings of the couple’s home in Alcalá de Henares, a town of about 195,000 people located about 29 miles east of the Spanish capital. They found 20 million euros in cash, or about $21.1 million.
Police sources said officers also found 1 million euros in banknotes between 50 and 500 euros hidden in two locked cupboards in his office.
The couple appeared in a Madrid court last week and were charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and membership in a criminal organization and remanded in custody, a judicial source told AFP.
Spanish media said the arrests were related to the seizure of cocaine in Algeciras on October 14 from a container ship arriving from Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city and a hub for drug trafficking. The cocaine was hidden in a banana crate. A fruit screen was installed to hide the cocaine, police said in a news statement.
Police said the drug bust was the biggest ever crackdown on cocaine in Spain and “one of the largest seizures in the world”.
Authorities said the container was destined for a Spanish importer based in the southeastern coastal town of Alicante, which had been “importing large amounts of fruit from Ecuador for many years.” Spanish police said they worked with the Ecuadorian National Police to intercept the shipment.
Spain, the main gateway for Latin American cocaine into Europe, is cracking down on drug shipments arriving from Latin America. Cocaine seizures at European ports are reaching record levels, Robert Fay, head of Europol’s drug division, told AFP.
Spain cooperated with the other country arrested in June A multi-year operation involving 40 people to destroy a large-scale drug smuggling organization. spain in july I participated Fifty people have been arrested in eight countries over the disruption of a major network transporting cocaine from Latin America to Europe by boat. Twenty-six of the detainees were arrested in Spain.
