A joint investigation by the PJ police and the Royal Gibraltar Police has led to the arrests of two Britons aged 38 and 40 after more than 6,000kgs of hashish were seized in Olhão on September 6.
The arrests were revealed by police on September 9 and were part of an international operation by police, Operation Rock, which had been running since August 2009 based initially on information provided by the authorities in Gibraltar.
A spokesman for the PJ said: “Investigations began last year into a criminal network of several British citizens, which was being led by an individual resident in the Algarve dedicated to the trafficking of large quantities of hashish from Morocco to Portugal.”
As a result of the investigation more than 95 bales of hashish weighing over 3,000kgs were seized from within a truck where they had been concealed among bags of straw and scrap wood.
Searches of property in the Algarve belonging to members of the criminal network led to the seizing of a further 3,000kgs of hashish, bringing the total to more than 6,000kgs.
The two Britons arrested have now been held in preventative custody as investigations continue.
The spokesman for the PJ added: “Investigators will continue to work together with our international counterparts in the attempt to indentify other possible members of the crime network.”
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