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TWENTY people have been arrested in a massive Guardia Civil operation that has dismantled a major international cocaine trafficking ring operating across the notorious ‘Costa del Sol triangle’.
Officers raided 22 homes in Marbella, Algeciras and Los Barrios as part of a coordinated operation against the cartel.
The raids on the notorious Risitas The clan finally caught the leader of the organization, who was on the run ever since a major drugs bust in the year 2023.
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The elusive boss had managed to slip through the net during Operation ‘Kiken’ three years ago, a sting that saw 30 people arrested and more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine seized.
During the recent raids, the second-in command of the gang managed to evade arrest and is at large.
After the crackdown of 2023, the cartel established a legitimate road transportation company that would operate in the Port of Algeciras.
Smugglers smuggled operatives in by using double bottoms, which were highly sophisticated, under semi-trailers.
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These ‘extractors’ would secretly open shipping containers to retrieve the hidden cocaine before slipping back into the secret compartments to exit the port undetected.
This tactic allowed them to completely bypass the visual inspections in truck cabins and cargo hold.
Detectives have linked the group with a 445 kilogram cocaine seizure in Algeciras’ Los Guijos Industrial Estate in October 2025.
Two gang members were caught in the act of removing drugs from a false floor of a trailer during that raid.
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It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. Risitos The clan is a well-known and highly competent organisation that operates primarily from Campo de Gibraltar. However, its bosses use Marbella’s luxury as a hideaway.
The criminals who built up their empire by focusing on the gancho perdido Method, a tactic in which massive amounts of South American cocaine are smuggled into legitimate shipping containers. The importing company is never aware.
During the massive Operation Kiken in 2023, the syndicate was a major target for Europol and Guardia Civil.
That crackdown resulted in the arrest of more than 30 people and the seizure of over 1,000 kilos of cocaine, alongside assault rifles, luxury watches and €172,000 in cash.
The detectives quickly realised that the strength of the clan was the depth of their infiltration of the Port of Algeciras.
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The drug trafficking was done by recruiting corrupt dockworkers and drivers, who used their jobs to gain access to the drugs.
The boss and his second in command, who had been on the run for three years as a high-priority criminal, decided to upgrade rather than conceal their smuggling business.
They bought a legitimate transport firm to operate within the port, and started building false bottoms on their trailers so that their operatives could enter and exit the terminals undetected.
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