A gang of drug traffickers, described as a major network of suppliers of heroin and cocaine to consumers throughout the entire Algarve and Lower Alentejo region, has been arrested by the Loulé police in a mega-operation on November 1.
Five men and a woman, aged between 20 and 45, were arrested after police swooped on three houses in Almancil and Quarteira following several months of surveillance and investigation.
They found enough heroin for 12,500 doses as well as 500 doses of cocaine (with a street value of €50,000), some of which was hidden in the roof of a neighbouring house. Equipment used in the preparation of hard drugs for the illegal market was also confiscated along with €850.
The oldest member of the detained gang is “one of the most long-standing drug traffickers in the Algarve”, according to Captain Abel Adriano, commandant of Loulé GNR.
A police source said the object of the operation was to destroy “a hardcore drugs nest” that formed a widespread network supplying dozens of heroin and cocaine addicts.
The gang of six was due to appear in court last Friday.
