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Spain claims its “biggest-ever seizure” of crystal meth, says Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel was trying to sell drugs in Europe
Spanish police said Thursday they had seized 1.8 tons of crystal meth that Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel was trying to sell in Europe, the country’s “biggest-ever seizure” of the narcotic.
Police arrested five people during the raid in the eastern Alicante province, one of them a Mexican running the cartel’s Spanish operation, a statement said.
“This is the biggest-ever seizure of crystal meth in Spain and the second largest in Europe,” Antonio Martinez Duarte, head of the police’s drug trafficking and organized crime unit, told reporters.
“Among those arrested is a Mexican citizen linked to the Sinaloa Cartel,” he added.
He did not give his name but indicated the suspect was responsible for receiving the narcotics in Spain then distributing them within Europe.
According to Martínez, the group used houses in isolated areas in the Valencia region to store the smuggled shipments of methamphetamines before using vehicles with false bottoms to send them on to other European countries.
Police released video on social media showing officers removing bags of the apparent drugs that were hidden inside machinery and fake vehicle bottoms.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico’s oldest, largest and most violent criminal groups whose influence remains strong despite the arrest of its founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his son.
Both have been extradited to and jailed in the United States. Last month, “El Chapo” had his request for phone calls and visits with his young daughters denied by a federal judge.
During the operation, police also detained three Spaniards and a Romanian, seizing five cars, documents, a weapon and cash.
But police believe it was a one-off trafficking operation and that “Mexican organizations are not permanently based” in Spain, Martinez Duarte said.
“These organizations send a trusted person who carries out the operation in line with their interests” and once that is over, he goes back home, he explained.
The seized narcotics had been due to be shipped to central Europe.
Manu Fernandez / AP
Although Spain is one of the main drug gateways to Europe, seizures of synthetic narcotics are uncommon as most traffickers usually deal in cannabis and cocaine.
In December, Spanish authorities confiscated 11 tons of cocaine hidden inside shipping containers and arrested 20 people. Nine months before that, police in northwestern Spain refloated a homemade semi-submersible vessel — a so-called “narco sub” they suspected was used to transport cocaine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Nowadays, what makes a martini a martini? Robert Simonson, who wrote a book about the martini, said, “It’s funny: it’s strict and loose at the same time.”
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Everyone seems to have an opinion about the cocktail: “Ingredients, proportions, garnishes – it’s all subject to debate,” Simonson said. “I’m a purist. I would think it needs to be gin and vermouth. But I’m willing to bend and say, ‘Okay, vodka and vermouth as well.’ [However,] if there’s no vermouth in there, I don’t know how you can call it a cocktail.”
Simonson says the martini was probably named after a vermouth company. It was invented in America in the 1870s or ’80s when bartenders mixed gin with vermouth, a fortified wine made with herbs and spices. “It’s a very big player in cocktail history,” he said.
In the early 20th century, the “very-dry” martini became very-popular: Ice cold gin or vodka, garnished with a lemon twist, or an olive, or an onion, but only a little vermouth (or maybe not even a little).
Samantha Casuga, the head bartender at Temple Bar in New York City, says the reason why many people might not want vermouth in their martini is because, for years, vermouth was stored improperly. “It should be in the fridge,” she said.
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Casuga’s classic martini is two parts gin, one part vermouth, with a twist of lemon. She suggests that you probably shouldn’t order it the way James Bond does – shaken, not stirred. Casuga says she’s always stirring, but some people like the show behind the bar when a bartender shakes their cocktail. “Definitely, people love a good shake,” she said.
People also love to have a martini made just the way they want it. But Casuga understands why they might be so specific: “To have your own preferences, not only listened to and then executed, is, like, that’s luxury itself.”
Writer Robert Simonson says that a martini can also add a little luxury to your Thanksgiving. “It actually makes very good sense for Thanksgiving,” he said. “It will whet your appetite for the meal to come.
“There are very few American inventions more American than the martini. So, an American holiday, American drink.”
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Story produced by Mary Raffalli. Editor: Remington Korper.
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