This is the moment police thwarted a gangland raid on a stash house on the Costa del Sol.
In what is known as ‘vuelcos‘, rival clans are routinely stealing from each other by tracking down their safe houses (guarderias) and stealing their drugs and cash.
There are now many gangs on the coast who are solely dedicated to vuelcos, including some who pose as police in an attempt to gain entry or scare off their rivals.
One of the latest attempts in Benalmadena, however, was frustrated by the Policia Nacional.
An armed gang was while attempting to rob the stash house holding almost two tonnes of hashish.
Four people were arrested for being members of the group, as well as the man guarding the drugs at the house.
Four house searches were also conducted in the towns of Benalmadena, Estepona and Benhavis, where items that could be considered a ‘vuelco kit’ were found.
The operation began when officers, who were already investigating the criminal group, realised they were planning a robbery at a house where nearly two tonnes of hashish were hidden.
The assailants arrived at the drug den in a van. While one of them stayed behind the wheel, the other three, wearing balaclavas, entered the house.
Once inside, the members of the organisation violently assaulted the guard and tied him up with cable ties, threatening him with firearms.
After obtaining the house keys and the garage door opener, they drove the van into the parking area. With the victim still bound, the assailants began loading the bales of hashish from the house into the vehicle.
Given the speed of the crime and the risk to the victim’s life, an urgent police operation was launched to access the house in two teams.
One team entered through the front door and found the man bound and with clear signs of having been beaten. They provided him with assistance and freed him from the cable ties.
Simultaneously, they observed that the assailants, feeling surrounded by the officers, jumped from the terrace of the house onto the neighbouring property and fled on foot towards one of the pedestrian gates of the residential complex.
After a foot chase, the four members of the gang were intercepted and arrested.
Once the man guarding the two tonnes of hashish received medical attention, he was also arrested.
Raids on four other homes unearthed a ‘drug heist kit’ consisting of, among other items, a revolver, a police flashlight, replica firearms, frequency jammers and detectors, GPS trackers, balaclavas, gloves, reflective vests, cable ties and opening tools.
Read more Costa del Crime news at the Spanish Eye.
