With historic methamphetamine bust, Spain says it broke up Sinaloa cartel’s EU network

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spanish police announced on Thursday that they seized 1,800 kilograms (3,968 lbs) of methamphetamine and dismantled the main point of the Sinaloa cartel’s supply network in Europe.

in a statement, Spanish police said this was the biggest methamphetamine seizure in Spanish history and the second-biggest bust of its kind in Europe.

Methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug.

Police arrested five people, one of whom police say is the leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Spain.

The cartel was operating from Tenerife, Madrid, Valencia and Alicante.

The investigation began when police found out that criminals had been shipping cocaine in appliances like washing machines from peninsular Spain to the Canary Islands.

From there, they began to monitor the group, which was operating through a logistics company based in Madrid.

Earlier this month, a new shipment was located, which allowed police to figure out the shipments were coming from a house in a small town in the region of Valencia.

First, they caught a van carrying 224 kilos of meth. Then they searched the house, seizing more than 1,500 kilos of the synthetic stimulate and arresting the supposed leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Spain.

The Sinaloa Cartel, based in Mexico, is one of the largest international crime syndicates in the world.

Its previous leader, the notorious Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in 2019.

In a press conference, police said that the meth was not intended for the Spanish market, but instead for northern and central Europe.

The investigation is still underway and police say they do not rule out more arrests.