The Judiciary Police (PJ) dismantled a criminal network that continuously supplied drug laboratories in the North and Center of mainland Portugal, as well as in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley area.
In a statement released on Monday, inspectors revealed that nine people were arrested as part of the operation, titled “Snowball,” which was carried out in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Matosinhos, Maia, Paredes, Leiria, Óbidos, Caldas da Rainha, Alfeizerão, Coruche, and Azeitão.
In total, about 830 kg of coca paste were seized in warehouses located in the municipalities of Alcobaça and Pombal, along with hundreds of liters of chemicals, gasoline, acids, precursors, and others, as well as an entire structure capable of transforming coca paste into cocaine hydrochloride.
The operation also led to the seizure of about 31,500 euros in cash, various documents, 12 vehicles, two forklifts and a cargo lift, cutting and processing equipment, communication devices, electronic devices and gadgets (particularly those usable in counter-surveillance), firearms and ammunition, as well as the seizure of other economic and financial assets.
In addition to the crime of aggravated drug trafficking, the suspects are also accused of “criminal association, money laundering, resistance and coercion of an official, and dangerous driving of a road vehicle.”
The PJ investigation, which had been ongoing since the beginning of the year, allowed for the collection of evidence that the cell was operating from northern Portugal.
Drugs were transported in coconuts
According to the PJ’s statement, the organized group, of international nature, “proceeded to acquire large quantities of chemical products and precursors, with a view to supplying different artisanal laboratories.”
The suspects imported “cocaine base” through “front companies, duly and legally established, from a South American country.”
The drug was concealed, according to the PJ, inside coconuts, and was later extracted and transformed into cocaine hydrochloride in artisanal laboratories set up for this purpose. Subsequently, it was shipped to European countries by road.
The detainees have since been presented to the judicial authority for their first judicial interrogation, and have been remanded in custody.