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Photos: Unemployment fuels brazen drug trade in southern Spain

Over the past few years – and the past 12 months in particular – La Línea, which sprawls in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar, has acquired an unenviable reputation as Spain’s most troubled town. A new generation of gangsters is challenging underfunded law enforcement agencies, as local families watch their teenagers lured into a life of easy money. Criminals that in the past dropped their few hundred kilograms of cargo in the sea as soon as they came across customs surveillance are now ready to defend shipments of Moroccan hashish and cocaine ranging in the tons.

Updated on: Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM IST

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1/11

Faces hidden by masks, a group of 40 men emerges from the darkness of beach-front houses and into the sand as a state-of-the-art speedboat approaches the shore on La Linea de la Conception, Spain. They frantically unload dozens of plastic-wrapped burlap bundles, each containing 30 kilograms of Moroccan hashish. In little over two minutes, most of the cargo has filled two full-size SUVs. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

Faces hidden by masks, a group of 40 men emerges from the darkness of beach-front houses and into the sand as a state-of-the-art speedboat approaches the shore on La Linea de la Conception, Spain. They frantically unload dozens of plastic-wrapped burlap bundles, each containing 30 kilograms of Moroccan hashish. In little over two minutes, most of the cargo has filled two full-size SUVs. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

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As fast as they came, the SUVs speed away and the boat vanishes into the night. When a patrol car arrives seconds later, all that remains is the sound of the waves. Another night in the battle between Spanish authorities and the gangs who have turned this town in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar into a key European entry point for Moroccan hashish. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

As fast as they came, the SUVs speed away and the boat vanishes into the night. When a patrol car arrives seconds later, all that remains is the sound of the waves. Another night in the battle between Spanish authorities and the gangs who have turned this town in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar into a key European entry point for Moroccan hashish. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

3/11

Confiscated speedboats are seen at the port of Algeciras. Criminals who earlier dropped cargo in the sea as soon as they came across customs boats are now ready to defend bigger shipments aided by high-powered inflatable boats that average loads of 1 to 3 tons. Car chases at high-speeds and personal threats to judges, prosecutors and underpaid, short-handed officers have now become common. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

Confiscated speedboats are seen at the port of Algeciras. Criminals who earlier dropped cargo in the sea as soon as they came across customs boats are now ready to defend bigger shipments aided by high-powered inflatable boats that average loads of 1 to 3 tons. Car chases at high-speeds and personal threats to judges, prosecutors and underpaid, short-handed officers have now become common. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

4/11

A new generation of bolder gangsters is challenging underfunded law enforcement agencies, as local families watch their teenagers lured into a life of easy money. “Many of us are fathers. We need to take food home,” said one gangster. “If we couldn’t provide for our children this way, another kind of violence would come.” (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

A new generation of bolder gangsters is challenging underfunded law enforcement agencies, as local families watch their teenagers lured into a life of easy money. “Many of us are fathers. We need to take food home,” said one gangster. “If we couldn’t provide for our children this way, another kind of violence would come.” (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

5/11

The Cadiz province, which at its southernmost tip only 14 kilometers away from North Africa, already amounts for 40% of the drugs entering Spain, according to Interior Ministry figures. Hashish arrives on these beaches at the pace of seven to 20 loaded boats per day. The county is also a main entry point for cocaine, Europe’s second most popular drug. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

The Cadiz province, which at its southernmost tip only 14 kilometers away from North Africa, already amounts for 40% of the drugs entering Spain, according to Interior Ministry figures. Hashish arrives on these beaches at the pace of seven to 20 loaded boats per day. The county is also a main entry point for cocaine, Europe’s second most popular drug. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

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Despite struggles with trafficking, Spain is the European Union member seizing the largest volumes of both cocaine and cannabis. Of the 373 tons of drugs seized in Spain last year, 145 tons were cannabis resin confiscated in the Campo de Gibraltar region. Investigators said seizures amount to only 4 to 5 percent of the hashish that could be entering the country. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

Despite struggles with trafficking, Spain is the European Union member seizing the largest volumes of both cocaine and cannabis. Of the 373 tons of drugs seized in Spain last year, 145 tons were cannabis resin confiscated in the Campo de Gibraltar region. Investigators said seizures amount to only 4 to 5 percent of the hashish that could be entering the country. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

7/11

Trafficking ring members and leaders point to the province’s 30% unemployment rate, the highest in Spain, as fuel for criminal activity. Shipping drugs is justified as a necessary evil that feeds hundreds of families directly, and thousands more indirectly. “If drug trafficking didn’t end in Colombia with death penalties and extraditions to the United States, nobody will end it here,” one gangster said. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

Trafficking ring members and leaders point to the province’s 30% unemployment rate, the highest in Spain, as fuel for criminal activity. Shipping drugs is justified as a necessary evil that feeds hundreds of families directly, and thousands more indirectly. “If drug trafficking didn’t end in Colombia with death penalties and extraditions to the United States, nobody will end it here,” one gangster said. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

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Police unions say that a regional court specialized in drug trafficking would speed up some of the cases, because drug-trafficking probes require large amounts of judicial red tape for wiretapping and other investigating methods. Other proposed remedies range from harsher sentences and regulating consumption and sales of cannabis. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

Police unions say that a regional court specialized in drug trafficking would speed up some of the cases, because drug-trafficking probes require large amounts of judicial red tape for wiretapping and other investigating methods. Other proposed remedies range from harsher sentences and regulating consumption and sales of cannabis. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

9/11

Residents gather demanding more means to fight drug trafficking and measures to fight unemployment in La Linea de la Conception. Revenues feed the local economy, often laundered through small businesses, creating a narco-economy. Moments of catharsis bring out people in protest but there are also incidents where residents protect traffickers against police. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

Residents gather demanding more means to fight drug trafficking and measures to fight unemployment in La Linea de la Conception. Revenues feed the local economy, often laundered through small businesses, creating a narco-economy. Moments of catharsis bring out people in protest but there are also incidents where residents protect traffickers against police. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

10/11

For now the boats arrive, and when one does, spotters rush to unload the craft as passers-by look on. Only word that a police car is approaching brings an abrupt end to operations. “You see, this is like a game of cat and mouse, but you won’t see the guns, at least not on our side,” a top associate of Los Castanitas said. “Yes, this is illegal... But we are not hurting anyone.” (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

For now the boats arrive, and when one does, spotters rush to unload the craft as passers-by look on. Only word that a police car is approaching brings an abrupt end to operations. “You see, this is like a game of cat and mouse, but you won’t see the guns, at least not on our side,” a top associate of Los Castanitas said. “Yes, this is illegal... But we are not hurting anyone.” (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

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The smugglers also take umbrage at their reputation as a violent people. “Police are looking for a war by pitting us against each other,” a prominent drug lord said. “But this is not Medellin or Sinaloa, and there is no such thing as a Pablo Escobar among us. We, the veterans, are here to stop this from escalating to any kind of violence.” (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

Updated on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM

The smugglers also take umbrage at their reputation as a violent people. “Police are looking for a war by pitting us against each other,” a prominent drug lord said. “But this is not Medellin or Sinaloa, and there is no such thing as a Pablo Escobar among us. We, the veterans, are here to stop this from escalating to any kind of violence.” (Emilio Morenatti / AP)

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