Laundering millions of euros of drugs in tracksuits, Rolexes and brand new furniture

The dressing room, purple and decorated with sparkling crystals, complies 100% with the narco aesthetic. Not only because of the decoration of the room itself, but because it is a succession of shelves, drawers and hangers in which only branded tracksuits and sports shoes are kept. It is the most private part of a house that, with its exterior covered in gray tones, looks new, spotless and luxurious in the middle of a poor and humble neighborhood with San Bernardo, in La Línea de la Concepción. Both inside and out, it appears to be just what the Civil Guard suspects of it: being the destination for money laundering from drug traffickers in the Strait.

The house is one of the ten that some 200 Civil Guard agents searched this Monday in the Gibraltarian towns of La Línea and San Roque —nine in the first municipality and one in the second— in a new police coup against the schemes of local drug traffickers to launder money from hashish trafficking. In the deployment, seven people ended up arrested, related to what is known as the Real Madrid clan, an organization directly linked to the mafia of the brothers Antonio and Isco Tejón, alias Los Castañas, the largest traffickers in the area who remain in provisional prison. for previous reasons. The researchers believe that those involved were able to camouflage up to two million euros linked to profits from hashish from Morocco.

The seven arrested this Monday are being investigated for money laundering, "which does not mean that any of them also engaged in trafficking," according to a source close to OCON Sur, the Civil Guard body created to fight against drug trafficking in the area. Although the investigation, initiated at the request of the Campo de Gibraltar Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office, is kept under summary secrecy, those familiar with the case point to the usual formula for money laundering in the world of hashish: "Everything is spent a lot and placed in the name of third parties". This procedure explains why some of the detainees are close relatives of those involved who agreed to deed properties in their name.

Among those arrested is the head of the group that had built a luxurious two-story house between Ronda and Padre Vitorio Molina streets in La Línea. A good part of the records were concentrated there, both on that farm and on other nearby ones which, although their exterior was less out of tune than the main house, also displayed the same splendor inside. "Everything was silver and with many rhinestones," says an agent present in the records. One of these houses was still brand new: the mattresses and pillows were still wrapped and it still had finishing touches from the work, like the dressing room.

However, the biggest expense was located in the modern design house that, on a corner of San Bernardo, stands out greatly compared to the rest of humble homes in the area. The mere description provided by the agent himself relates the luxury: kitchen equipped with the best electrical appliances, large living room, private garage, four bedrooms -one with an en-suite bathroom-, children's playroom and terrace. In the dressing room of the main bedroom, the investigators found a display of branded tracksuits, both for the owner and his partner, and sneakers. "It was very striking that the entire space was only dedicated to those clothes, many still with the labels of not having even been released," says this source.

In this habitual way of understanding luxury in the underworld of hashish in the Strait, there was also a corresponding luxury watch —a Rolex valued at more than 10,000 euros—, branded bags, cash —13,000 euros— and cars . In this case, directed by the Court of First Instance and Instruction Number 5 of La Línea, the Civil Guard has intervened up to five vehicles of usual brands, but equipped with various extras. "It's the new way they have to not attract much attention," explains the agent. In total, the Civil Guard estimates that they were able to launder at least two million euros, which, foreseeably, will multiply when the total estimate of the confiscation is made.