He is Moroccan, 40 years old, and authorities say a shipment hid 1,156 kilograms of hashish among fruit and vegetables in a refrigerated truck. Civil Guard investigators describe a narcotics network that disguises drugs in commercial consignments bound for Europe, crossing through Aragon and Catalonia, with the first arrest being a long-haul international horticulture transport driver.
The driver was detained last Tuesday. Public sources indicate he has prior drug-trafficking offenses, and the court ordered provisional detention for the suspect as the investigation continues, with new details emerging this Saturday.
The nearly 1,200 kilos of drugs were concealed behind pallets in the refrigerated load, wrapped into 224 packages. The police operation unfolded in La Muela, Zaragoza, as the truck prepared to head toward Catalonia and then into France, with Italy listed as the ultimate destination.
Found a hidden compartment
The truck driver was maneuvering his vehicle in an industrial park in Aragon when Civil Guard officers noticed suspicious behavior as a patrol approached. Upon identifying the driver, authorities discovered he had a narcotics past and was under judicial process.
A police dog from the K-9 unit marked the initial section of the trailer, which connects to the tractor cabin. Officers escorted the truck to a nearby warehouse to unload the fruit, uncovering a hidden compartment where the refrigeration system should have been. Inside, there was no engine; instead, more than a ton of pressed hashish lay concealed.
The arrested individual faced a travel ban restricting him from leaving Spanish territory. The operation remains open, according to Civil Guard sources, as investigators broaden the search toward southern Spain, aiming to determine where the truck loaded and which organization chartered this shipment.
Without refrigeration, the fruit and vegetables used by the traffickers would spoil, so the Civil Guard and the court delivered to a food bank six pallets of oranges, one pallet of potatoes, one of lemons, another of tomatoes, and another of onions. In total, the seizure amounts to 13 tonnes.