Spain detains34 suspected members of Colombian drug ring

MADRID:  Police in Spain have arrested members
of gang based in Colombia that smuggled drugs
between the two countries,police said Saturday

The arrest were carried out in Madrid ,the Basque
Country and Cantabria in the north of Balearic
Islands in the Mediterranean.Spain Guardia  Civil
poice forces said in a statement.

Sixteen Colombian nationals and even Spaniards
are among those arrested as part oft the operation,
which began in April 2014 after police received
a trip that abar in the northern port of Santander
was selling drugs..

A police investigation concluded that the man ran
the bar"belonged to a criminal organisation run
out of Colombia which had a base of operations
in Madrid from where distributed drugs "the
statement said..

Police suspect the ring distributed drugs to other
smaller drug traffickers and to consumers at the
bar,which was also used to launder money from
drug trafficking..

The authorities seized 13 kilos of dry marijuana
plants ,one kilo of cocaine as well as synthetic
drugs like speed and crystal in searches of 17
homes carried out across the country.
AFP