This investigation centers on a major drug trafficking operation linked to a prominent sports complex owner and nutritionist from Quart de Poblet, known as Onofre GR. The case involves the Civil Guard, the National Police, and the Armed Institute, who joined forces to disrupt a long standing narcotics shipment connected to the Valencia port. Onofre GR faced a prior acquittal in the only courtroom appearance tied to a container holding around 400 kilograms of cocaine. Early today, authorities detained him along with about a dozen others, including three port stevedores and the owner of a shipping company, all under investigation.
The remaining detainees are held in cells across multiple barracks and are accused of taking part in the operation. In total, 1,617 kilograms of cocaine were linked to a Valencia port method known as the missing hook, with 1,500 kilos allegedly loaded into a container on August 24 but not recovered, while another 117 kilos were recovered the following day, August 25, when police recovered them.
Civil Guard teams from the Valencian Command supported the operation, conducting raids with assault units and dogs in various locations, including the central prisoner’s residence in Quart de Poblet and in surrounding areas such as Albania, Valencia, and Alaquas. In one search, agents found parcels belonging to the nephew of the alleged ringleader, along with backhoes and industrial machinery intended to locate dumps. However, according to information available to Upgrade-EMV, investigators did not uncover the expected assets.
Caught for speaking on behalf of Sky
The police operation began with an open investigation thanks to Europol’s handover to the Civil Guard of continuous encrypted messages among organization members using the Sky ECC platform. This platform became a focal point at the start of 2021 when European law enforcement cracked Sky ECC encryption used by criminals and terrorists due to its opacity.
All solvency documents submitted by the Civil Guard indicate that the operation linked chats to real identities, and this was confirmed through Sky ECC and another major system used by criminals. The police released information a few months ago that allowed identification of users with nicknames and the owner who could not be reached by phone.
Only weeks ago, officers from the Civil Guard Murder Group arrested those believed to be responsible for an execution that occurred in Valencia, where eight bullets were fired at narco figure Francisco Pozo in Favara on February 11, 2021. The arrests were facilitated by Sky messages that crossed paths in the weeks and days leading to the murder, a detail reported by Upgrade-EMV. The quirks of the criminal world show that the Weathered execution happened nearly simultaneously with Europol breaking Sky encryption, which enabled the capture of the so called executioners known in that circle as El Pozo.
The individuals arrested today face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering connected to this illicit activity and are scheduled to appear in Valencia Court of Order No. 1 on Friday May 13. A separate case involves money laundering allegations against Onofre GR stemming from the same overarching investigation led by the Central Operations Unit UCO of the Civil Guard and the Drugs and Organized Crime Unit Udyco in collaboration with the National Police from Valencia.
As part of the operation, authorities detained Onofre GR in December 2018 and also searched his gym, a facility focused on bodybuilding that drew clients from across the region. The client base reportedly included many civil guards, national and local police, and security personnel from Valencia and nearby towns. The raid spanned more than 12 hours, and the judge remanded Onofre GR to custody, though he later posted a 30,000 euro bail and was released.
About eighteen months later, in July 2020, under the same operation, UCO and Udyco closed the gym and froze equipment, which had been in place since 2018. Investigations into money laundering were expected to continue toward a court hearing, while the broader operation persisted in dismantling the criminal network and its financial flows.