Raid on warehouse run by mafia with Kinahan links reveals 1.5 tons of cocaine hidden in cement bags
Spanish police have released dramatic footage of a raid on a Mocro mafia warehouse where they discovered 1.5 tons of cocaine hidden in bags of cement.The video shows cops in plastic latex gloves carefully retrieving the blocks of drugs after cutting open the dusty bags and stacking them against a wall.The operation in Malaga province led to the arrests of five people by the Police Nacional who had been working in cooperation with Brazilian police after the shipment entered Spain via the port of Algeciras.The cargo was then transferred by road to a Marbella area industrial warehouse.Police in action during the raid It later emerged that the gang had used a shell company based in the German city of Bremen in a bid to disguise the illegal transport.The criminal organisation, led by a man, with links to the ‘Mocro’ mafia based in the Netherlands, had sent three men living in Germany to the Costa del Sol to recover the shipmentBut the police had discovered where the narcotics were stored, leading to a raid on the Marbella warehouse wher they discovered the cocaine divided into packages and stashed inside 1,000 cement bags.Read moreDaniel Kinahan’s close ally hopes to have sentence reduced after crimes confessionThe bags had been marked to make identification easier for the people in charge of extracting the drug.Five people have been arrested for drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal organisation.The warehouse raid also resulted in the impounding of a vehicle, a high-end mobile phone and €2,240 in cash.Ridouan Taghi According to the Olive Press, the investigation is still active and two international arrest warrants have been issued against two gang members.Police Nacional posted on X: “1,500 kilos of #cocaína hidden in cement bags. The criminal organization linked to #mocromafia has been dismantled. One entry and search in #Marbella. Five people arrested.Read moreSupergrass witness who put Kinahan super cartel ally Ridouan Taghi behind bars released“Crimes: trafficking of #drogas, membership in a criminal organization, simulation of a crime.”The Mocro Mafia (a term coined by Dutch media) is a network of organised criminals that mainly operates in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.Ridouan Taghi, who was sentenced to life in prison last February after the Marengo trial is regarded as the head of the drug gang, which controlled a large section of Europe’s cocaine trade.He is a close associate of Daniel Kinahan and they are believed to have worked together to source cocaine shipments from South America.At the time of his arrest, in October 2019, he was based in Dubai, from where he managed the criminal network.Taghi was a guest at Daniel Kinahan's wedding in Dubai A central figure in the Marengo Trial, it was revealed how Taghi was the mastermind behind the large criminal network responsible for violence, assassinations, and drug trafficking. The broader trial involved a total of 17 defendants related to the Mocro Mafia, who were accused of a series of crimes across Belgium and the Netherlands. In January, Taghi’s eldest son, Faissal, was convicted on Monday by the court in Zwolle for his involvement in large-scale cocaine shipments as well as money laundering.The 25-year-old who had also plotted to free his father, who is serving a life sentence, from the Maximum-Security Prison (EBI) in Vught, was sentenced following a deal he made with prosecutors.After Ridouan Taghi was arrested in Dubai at the end of 2019, Faissal, then aged 19, played a key role in continuing his father’s criminal operations.Read moreDutch mob boss and Kinahan Cartel partner Ridouan Taghi's son jailed for six yearsProsecutors say he was groomed by his father’s associates to manage the organisation from abroad while studying in Dubai.One figure named only as Dennis G, also known as ‘Rasta’ instructed him in handling large shipments of cocaine and hashish and in laundering criminal proceeds.Court documents and decrypted messages presented during the trial document how Faissal Taghi moved roughly 1,500 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil to European ports including Antwerp, Le Havre, and Valencia.The messages also reportedly detail large-scale hashish trafficking and laundering of “enormous amounts of criminal money”, or “pap” in street slang through intermediaries referred to as “papmen”.Taghi also communicated with his father, a former Kinahan Cartel ally, through his lawyer Inez Weski, as they organised the drug business and even planned a violent prison break. The court noted that the conspirators “seriously considered” kidnapping or extorting four EBI staff members in a bid to free Taghi.Read more‘I don't know this man’ - Kinahan ally Ridouan Taghi denies ties with drug lord El RicoThe court described Faissal who kept extensive digital records of the criminal activity more as an “intermediary” than a leader.In messages to Ridouan Taghi, Faissal promised his father that he would manage financial and logistical operations, including safe houses and passports, to build a “worldwide empire.”Faissal, the eldest son of Ridouan Taghi, who is serving a life sentence, was extradited from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in July 2024.It has been reported how Faissal stated that after his father’s arrest, as the eldest son, he was the only point of contact in the family.He was the one approached by others “to do things and deliver messages” and he couldn’t resist this “because he didn’t want to disappoint anyone — especially his father”.
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