is the closest thing Main street of drug trafficking. Or “Wild West”as defined Juan Franco, Mayor of La Linea de la Concepcion (Cadiz). Where maize and tomatoes used to be grown, there are now luxury villas built without a permit or license in a protected area. In that area of El Zabal, in La Línea de la Concepción, They call it ‘VillaNarco’.
Four years ago there were 19 illegal buildings from the marijuana smuggling clans. Today already more than 100 according to police data The investigation and events channel of Prensa Ibérica that managed to look inside ‘VillaNarco’ was acquired by CASO ABIERTO, fly over by helicopter and see the resulting images drones.
everyone has a home
“It’s all there, all major organizations have homes or nurseries,” explains sources from the National Police, GRECO. “VillaNarco” has “VillaNarco” houses on an area of approximately 19 thousand square meters. Pantoja, Messi’s lieutenants, clan of footballers, Kiko el Fuerte…” whose names sometimes seem ghostly, sometimes legend, that the police fight every day in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Those of ‘VillaNarco’ are narrow, dusty streets with almost two lanes direct access from Atunara beach where cannabis is unloaded. no legal supply water or light, There is no building permit. Everything is illegal. Candy kiosks are actually lookout points. “give the water” (warn) When a strange car, suspected to be the police, enters ‘VillaNarco’.
400 files
The mayor of La Línea, Juan Franco, explains that there are “about 1,300 illegal homes” in the area of El Zabal. But not all of them belong to drug traffickers, there are also honest people. he assures”we have 400 or 500 files Open at town hall for houses in the area. I don’t have staff to process all open files. We’re going to have to create a system to keep these houses in order.”
El Zabal has ‘VillaNarco’ inside. It is not difficult to distinguish the region. The walls are too high. in his words Francisco Mena of the Drug Enforcement Association: “They’ll take the farm and build a wall. When the automatic doors open, you’ll see it’s an orchard.”
in the forest
‘VillaNarco’s neighbors don’t appear on the census or property records, police admit they don’t know for sure who lives in each chalet. Only when they enter by court order to search for a drug trafficker do they see who is inside. But that’s not easy either, there is no official address and asking the judge for orders, they can’t even give you an address, just geographic coordinates. latitude and longitude, “as if we were explorers in the forest”, the police explain. Many of these GRECO agents accompanied CASO ABIERTO on his visit to ‘VillaNarco’ by land and air.
Within the scope of illegal urbanization, cell phones stop working. This happens because of inhibitors installed by trafficking clans. Security cameras also monitor entrances and exits controlled by illegal, metal gates.
From the helicopter you can see a large Nemo fish carved from the bottom of a pond. And a giant elephant gushing from its trunk
on behalf of beggars
Most of the houses are not officially owned by the merchants. The homeless and beggars of La Linea thousand euros a month to keep it on your behalf. He found luxury villas on behalf of the police 80 year old grandmothers. In some, one hundred thousand euros hidden in kitchen towels. In almost all chalets made by reliable builders, zulos: in closets, basements, under the jacuzzi, even in the kitchen hood.
A helicopter flight offers the first clues as to what ‘VillaNarco’ is like inside. Neighbors protected behind walls enjoying the crazy life. At the bottom of a pool, you can see the giant silhouette of the pool. Nemo fish carved in stone, as if it were a water park. others have slides, trampolines, bouncing castlesa giant elephant with its trunk coming out of fresh water, and even Pirates of the Caribbean Johnny Depp’s photo.
You can also see luxury carriages, a galloping horse, and an artificial turf field from the air. Even in some chalets tyre Parked to sail (as the marijuana shipping boats from Morocco say).
Trick of strangers
A policewoman specializing in the fight against money laundering remembers some of her “visits” to ‘VillaNarco’: “We found very expensive clothes on the tag, I remember. 50 Hugo Boss baby bootiesall the Chanel boxes on the floor, Louis Vuitton cell phone 500 Euros… Gold parts, one hundred thousand Euros Omega watch…”.
To circumvent legal restrictions that monitor spending more than 3,000 euros with credit cards, drug dealers and their spouses they use guiris In the posh areas of the Costa del Sol, they pay with their cards (no legal limits) and then the drug traffickers return the money with a tip.
Land for a thousand euros
An operation in 2018 Civil Guard discovered that there were 19 drug trafficking buildings in the area. “An attempt has been made to prosecute them for a crime against land use planning, but it is a slow procedure and has very light penalties. It is very difficult to order the demolition of a house,” explains a police expert on the case.
Today, four years after that first operation, already more than a hundred chalets built and inhabited At ‘Villa Narco’. “Drug traffickers have become super promoters of housing here,” this police officer adds. “For example, they bought a 2,000 square meter rustic property. Then they divided it into four or five and put it in the name of a company. They paid 2,500 euros for each piece in cash and the rest in black money.” There are still advertisements on some internet portals that the land in ‘VillaNarco’ is officially offered for one thousand Euros.
One hundred thousand euros in water
National Police trying to follow up on investigations money trail and accuse them of money laundering. To drug dealers and their wives who also enjoy what their husbands earn. Some are often gym called bull in the nearby El Zabal industrial area. The gym didn’t even have a license and was closed after the police operation. “They had the best weight machines in the world,” recalls one agent involved in the operation. When asked the rationale for their income, they assured customers that they were consuming. water bottles worth one hundred thousand euros.
This financial engineering often defeats bureaucracy and legal procedures, as well as city council investigations. “When we found out who was behind one of these houses, several new companies As owners who have just bought the land, we have to start from scratch,” the mayor complains.
people with roots
La Linea narcotics built ‘VillaNarco’ over their city because pride of roots. When they make a fortune, they don’t go far, not even to Marbella. They stay in their place. The mayor saw it all: “Some made a lot of money, they built a house in Sotogrande (a luxury development in the state of Cádiz), but then they came back here. They miss walking around the San Bernardo neighborhood. Sotogrande, they are not comfortable with them Versace tracksuit.
Sometimes yes, they go on luxury cruises where they’re being watched. One of the policemen, who followed his steps, explains the situation as follows: “To them I really like going to Ibiza. It gives them a cache, a place where they can seamlessly flaunt, show luxury, and also connect for their own business. They drink Moet Chandon, They close the clubs reserved for them and gamble in the casinos. Then they post photos on their social networks.”
“Jumanjis”
Because La Linea’s narcotics are not hidden. They’re guessing. They sing, they go unnoticed, They call them Jumanji and they know it. These include classes. “The upper echelon Versace tracksuits; Those on the bottom rung, fake Versace sweatpants,” explains a cop. They buy nice cars. They take pictures on the beach with big chunks of seafood, famous football players. Real Madrid stadium During the Champions League match.
Their women turn into what they say in La Linea trio or ‘Kardashian’ (lip, breast and hip aesthetic operations).
drug rap
Fiction and reality coexist in La Línea. This spring, police detected the first real narco-rap for the first time. He was the star of the first communion party for one of the rapper Haze’s children.Jacket’, another clan leader drugs in the area
Haze and another artist, La Húngara, released a song together: “I’m innocent”, probably the first Spanish narco rap from the Bosphorus. “Virgencita del Carmen I’m sorry for a prisoner… I shit on the dead of the commissioner, the undersecretary of Customs … the damned officers… .