PSP dismantled trafficking network in Madeira with five detainees

A PSP dismantled a drug trafficking network that had been operating for at least two years in Madeira, in an operation in which it detained five men and seized drugs and weapons, today announced that police force.

In a statement, the Regional Command of the PSP states that the operation, called “Colombiana”, took place on Thursday and today in the municipalities of Funchal and Santa Cruz.

In addition to the five detainees, aged between 21 and 41 years, Portuguese and South American countries, seven other suspects were identified and 31 search and seizure warrants were served, 14 of which were housewives.

“ The investigation revealed that the group would be dedicated to the importation of drugs, essentially recreational substances, from other European countries, which would later be distributed and marketed, especially during the night, in establishments and places of night entertainment in the region”, reads the statement.

PSP reports that it seized 400 tablets of ecstasy (MDMA), with a total weight of 216.13 grams, corresponding to 2,161 individual doses, more than 500 grams of hashish and another 352 grams of an unidentified product that two of the suspects sold as cocaine, a product that was sufficient for approximately 1,800 doses.

It also confiscated four firearms, three reproductions of firearms and several ammunition of different calibers and 11 mobile phones, as well as instruments and materials related to drug trafficking.

In the statement, the police added that they still located a ammunition of military caliber, with anti-aircraft characteristics, “whose danger justified the activation of the Explosive Inactivation Team, which carried out its evaluation and subsequent destruction in a controlled manner and under security conditions”.

Two of the five detainees were returned to freedom by subjection to the measure of coercion of Term of Identity and Residence (IRR), waiting for the rest to be present to the judicial authorities, says PSP.

According to the police, this operation “represents an important result of the criminal investigation activity carried out in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, allowing significant quantities of narcotic substances to be removed from circulation, seize firearms and identify a large number of individuals allegedly involved in a criminal activity that would have lasted for at least two years.”.