Police in Spain dismantle criminal network, importing drugs

Spanish police on November 12th had arrested nine people and dismantled a criminal network that used homemade drones to transport drugs from Morocco to Spain.

According to The New Arab plus agencies, the drones were used with “exceptional range” to transport Hashish. The drone would depart from southern Spain to pick up the drugs in Morocco and return.

Releasing the shipment over Vejer de la Frontera and Tarifa in Cadiz province, according to the Spain’s Guardia Civil police force.

The network operated at night, with packages equipped with fluorescent markers and radio-linked geolocation devices; they may have believed it would go under detection.

They were launching up to 10 drones simultaneously and moving roughly 200 kilograms (440 pounds ) of Hashish in a single night.

The operation was called “Ruche”, which means “beehive” in French, and was carried out due to the cooperation with the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie after the authorities detected multiple unidentified drone flights between the two countries.

In August, a case occurred in which drugs were found by the Spanish authorities that were from Morocco.

A massive drug bust found at least 1579kg of Hashish disguised in a truck full of oranges. It appeared that the truck was discovered when Spanish officers were monitoring the truck, and a small car was tailing the truck, carrying out counter-surveillance manoeuvres, which is typically common in criminal networks, to keep tabs on their shipment.

The police moved in to intercept the two suspicious vehicles; however, the smaller vehicle tailing the truck got away. They managed to apprehend the truck on a highway exit.

For a long time, the flow of drugs from Morocco to Spain has been a strain on law enforcement, with law enforcement trying to crack down on the drug trafficking.

Not only in Spain, but also in Morocco, there have been some major drug busts that have occurred, as Hashish seems to be the primary type of drug that is moved through the country.

In May 2025, there was a drug bust in Morocco where police managed to intercept an attempt to traffic 3.85 tons of Hashish near the city of Oued Zem.

Acting on the intel they were provided by the domestic intelligence and security agency (DGST), officers intercepted two vehicles transporting the drugs.

The two suspects, ages 23 and 35, were armed at the time and were already wanted for drug-related and violent crime offences.

As for the current seizure in Spain, police seized 8 drones and another 10 drones under construction in five raids carried out on November 10 in southern Spain. Nine people have been arrested so far.

It has been evident for a while that Spain is a significant entry point for Hashish in Europe because of its proximity to Morocco.

The devices used by the group could transport up to 10 kilograms of Hash per trip.

The New Arab plus agencies, Maghrebi.org