Major Drug Trafficking Kingpin from Ceuta Arrested on Spain’s Costa del Sol

The gang led by Piolin, the arrested man, operated mainly in the El Príncipe Alfonso neighborhood in Ceuta and has, according to the police, 70 members of Moroccan origin, mostly minors recruited in the underprivileged neighborhoods of the autonomous city. The suspect, considered "very violent", was carrying a weapon at the time of his arrest in an apartment in Manilva (Malaga), near the provincial border of Cadiz, police sources told El Pais, specifying that the Costa del Sol is one of the favorite destinations of criminals from Ceuta and foreign fugitives looking for a place to go unnoticed.

A few months ago, the police arrested three members of this network. Last October, it practically dismantled the rival Tayena gang after arresting all its main leaders. The leader of this network was killed on April 12 in Los Barrios (Cadiz) by a bullet to the abdomen. The two networks are also involved in human trafficking and fraud, an activity that has grown since the closure of the borders with Morocco for health reasons. They charge 1,000 euros to transport migrants from Morocco to the peninsula, hold them hostage in Ceuta, then demand a 3,000 euro ransom from their relatives to release them.