A worrying trend among drug trafficking gangs is threatening to bring more violence to the streets of the Costa del Sol, experts have warned.
Robberies of drug shipments between rival clans, known as ‘vuelcos’, are only increasing in terms of frequency, brutality and firepower, say police unions.
The result is more guns on the streets, growing aggression between gangs and an increased risk of violence spilling into everyday life.
What are ‘vuelcos’ and why are they increasing?
A vuelco is the theft of drugs by one criminal group from another.
Many groups are still buying drugs directly at source – mainly in Morocco – and transporting them by sea or land to stash locations, known as guarderias, along the coast.
At that point, however, specialised vuelco gangs move in to steal the load and resell it below market price. The rewards are immediate, but the risks are extreme: arrest, violent reprisals or death.
Security sources say these gangs are often focused almost exclusively on stealing other people’s shipments, rather than importing drugs themselves, which lowers costs but dramatically increases confrontation.
Violence as a warning system
Because these robberies threaten entire trafficking networks, gangs use brutal violence as a deterrent.
These include shootings, often targeting legs as a warning, kidnappings and beatings, plus armed ambushes and intimidation.
A string of recent cases seem to back up this account. Just last week a man was shot in the face in Mijas in a suspected vuelco gone wrong.
On December 3, a young man was shot in the leg on a main street in Nueva Andalucia, Marbella.
A month earlier, two brothers were pulled over – also in Marbella – while speeding to the hospital, with one of them found to have sustained a gunshot wound to the leg.
That shooting victim told police he had been receiving threats in the run up to the incident.
Weeks later in Benalmadena, officers disrupted a vuelco involving nearly two tonnes of hashish. The victim had been beaten, tied up and threatened.
More dangerous guns
Police and union representatives are increasingly alarmed by the type of weapons now appearing in these cases. Investigators say they are seeing more modern firearms, often sourced through international trafficking networks and conflict zones.
In recent operations linked to drug landings along the Guadalquivir, suspects have been spotted carrying Kalashnikov-style assault rifles.
Security experts warn that weapons circulating from war zones across Europe could further worsen the situation in the coming years.
Police unions: Pressure is rising, resources are not
Sindicato Reformista de Policias spokesperson Marilo Valencia, a police officer with more than two decades of experience, acknowledges improvements under Marbella’s new security plan, including better coordination across the Costa del Sol and eastern Andalucia. But she says this is not enough.
Unions are calling for more officers on the ground, better equipment suited to high-risk, armed confrontations and greater specialisation and training for investigative units.
According to the Confederación de Seguridad Local y Autonómica secretary general Oscar Camacho, vuelcos are seen by criminals as the easiest way to make money quickly, but also the one that most sharply shortens their life expectancy.
He warns that newer groups, often younger and less constrained by any informal rules, no longer respect territories or limits, in a change that is accelerating violence.
Investigators warn that without legislative changes and sustained investment in policing, the situation is unlikely to improve.
The combination of fast profits, escalating revenge cycles and easy access to military-grade weapons has created a volatile mix.
Read more Costa del Crime news at the Spanish Eye.
