Gardai help Spanish cops make largest ever seizure of pink cocaine as gang taken down

A total of 12 people have been arrested so far after the wide-ranging bust on 12 properties on the party island of Ibiza on August 29.

The largely British gang has been accused of crimes against public health, illicit possession of firearms, and belonging to a criminal organisation.

In a combined operation, cops in Colombia arrested two alleged members of the gang after they arrived in the country apparently to negotiate with drug producers.

It was the largest amount of pink cocaine, the street name for the synthetic psychedelic drug 2C-B, ever seized in Spain.

Officers also netted 36 pounds of cocaine, 12 pounds of ketamine, and 87,000 tablets of assorted substances.

The haul also included various amount of cash in bundles of $439,283, $35,000, and $12,000 as well as a number of high-end vehicles and luxury watches.

Various weapons that had all been obtained illegally by the gang, including three short firearms and a submachine gun with a silencer, have been taken in.

The raids were planned in cooperation with the UK’s National Crime Agency and Interpol while the Spanish Civil Guard also had the support of Europol and the collaboration of Dutch, Irish, and German authorities.

The Civil Guard said that working alongside their partners they had “dismantled an international criminal organization based on the island of Ibiza dedicated to the production, importation, and distribution of narcotic substances”.

"Yesterday, the Civil Guard carried out 12 house searches in the localities of Sant Josep de Sa Talaia, Sant Antoni de Portmany, Es Cubells, and Ibiza, which resulted in the arrests so far of a total of 12 people.

“They are being investigated for crimes against public health, illicit possession of firearms and belonging to a criminal organization.

"In a coordinated manner, members of the National Police of the Republic of Colombia proceeded to arrest two other components of the criminal organization who had recently travelled to Colombia to negotiate the acquisition of large amounts of cocaine.”

They added that the operation had dismantled an important, extremely violent international drug gang.

"Due to the extreme dangerousness of some of the components of the now dismantled criminal structure, these actions have had the support of the UEI (Special Intervention Unit) and the GAR (Rapid Action Group), in addition to the GRS 2 (Reserve and Security Group) and the USECIC (a rapid-response unit of the Civil Guard) of the Balearic Islands,” they stated.