Preventive for 6 drug trafficking suspects (coming in cinnamon)

O Sintra Judicial Court today determined the preventive arrest of five men and one woman, arrested by the Judicial Police (JP) for suspected drug trafficking in the county of Santiago do Cacém, revealed police source.

The source of the Judicial Police has indicated to Lusa that that security force in addition to arresting the six defendants dismantled an operation to create a cocaine extraction laboratory in a villa in the county of Santiago do Cacém.

The suspects were present today at the Sintra Court in the Lisbon district for first judicial interrogation.

The PJ revealed on Wednesday, in a statement, that on Tuesday, through the National Drug Trafficking Unit, it developed a police operation called “SPICE”, which involved the arrest of six people, between the ages of 30 and 58, all foreign.

As part of the operation, he indicated, a villa was identified in the municipality of Santiago do Cacém “where a laboratory for cocaine extraction was being set up”.

The drug “came to national territory mixed in cinnamon and other spices from a South American country, the Judiciary explained.

The six suspects, he continued, “were responsible for transporting and extracting cocaine from the spices where he had been hiding.”.

PJ found and seized, inside the villa, “a large amount of powder spices containing cocaine, as well as all the equipment and products necessary for the extraction of the drug, including chemicals,” the note read.

The operation also involved conducting “a number of home searches for suspects’ homes,” which culminated in the seizure of three vehicles, money and various communications materials, PJ said.

As for the cocaine found, which was mixed in the spices seized, “it has not yet been fully determined, but it is estimated that it can be around 100 kilos,” PJ said.

According to the PJ, the investigation continues, and the respective investigation is entitled by the Sintra Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP).