Armando G. Tejeda
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, November 19, 2025, p. 11
Madrid. The Spanish National Police reported the dismantling of what it defined as “the office” that the Jalisco cartel intended to establish in the country. New Generation, which in recent years has intensified its presence in Europe, always having Madrid as its gateway.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 20 people, of whom 15 are already in prison and among them two “priority targets” of the DEA for years, in addition to the seizure of almost two thousand kilograms of cocaine, amphetamines, firearms and cash.
The dismantling of the structure in Spain of the Mexican cartel occurred thanks to the collaboration with the intelligence services of the United States, particularly the DEA, in addition to the police specialized in organized crime and drug trafficking in the Netherlands, one of the European countries with the greatest illicit trafficking of this type of substances.
The Spanish police reported that they detected movements that suggested that the Mexican cartel had “reactivated its operational structure,” thanks to the discovery of the arrival of a shipment of drugs hidden in large-tonnage industrial machinery, carried out by active members of Jalisco. New Generation. This allowed the arrest of 20 people who were allegedly involved in introducing large shipments of cocaine and methamphetamines from Latin America for subsequent distribution in Spain and other European countries. The operation was directed by the central investigative court number two of the National Court and by the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office.
Commercial network
The investigation began this year when the introduction of cocaine into Spain hidden in large-tonnage industrial machinery was confirmed, taking advantage of the business network of one of the main Spanish targets at the service of the cartel. Once in national territory, it was stored in farms located in the mountains of Madrid and in Ávila. The national distribution was coordinated from a farm near La Adrada, Ávila, with branches in Bilbao and Valencia, for which they used vehicles with hidden compartments to transport the drugs.
For the international transfer, the organization had other farms in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, where the material was received, hidden in industrial machinery and sent to Italy.
The person in charge of providing support in Spain to the entire structure of introduction, storage and distribution of the product was a Spanish businessman, who operated through several commercial companies that he owned. In this way, it also allowed the economic gains obtained to be introduced into the legal flow.
The investigation was carried out in two phases, one aimed at arrests at the core of operations, and the second, against key distribution points in the provinces of Valencia and the Basque Country.
