Spanish police say they have dismantled the Sinaloa Cartel network and seized 1.8 tons of meth

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police have broken up a major methamphetamine distribution network run by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel after seizing 1.8 tons of the illegal drug, police said Thursday.

Spanish National Police described it as the largest methamphetamine confiscation ever made in the country.

Police said they arrested five people – a Mexican national whom police identified as the group’s leader, as well as three Spaniards and a Romanian – and searched six properties in the eastern Valencia region.

Officer Antonio Martínez celebrated the “extermination of this group,” which police believe was trying to gain a foothold in Spain.

According to Martínez, the group used houses in remote areas in the Valencia region to store the smuggled methamphetamine shipments before sending them on to other European countries using false bottom vehicles.

“We at the National Police thought that the Mexican cartels were not founded in Spain,” Martínez said. “But it is true that because of the pressure they are facing in other parts of Europe, especially against their laboratories, we are seeing them trying to start operations in Spain or setting up illegal laboratories to produce medicines.”

The investigation is ongoing and police said more arrests could be made.