Just days after the murder in Los Barrios (Cádiz) of «Tayena», one of the leaders of the drug trafficking gangs of Ceuta, the National Police have arrested «Piolín», his main rival in the local underworld. Officers arrested «Piolín» while he was staying in an aparthotel in the Costa del Sol town of Manilva. At the time of the arrest, the drug trafficker from Ceuta was armed.
The capture of «Piolín» brings to an end an operation by the Drug and Organised Crime Unit (Udyco) of Ceuta, which had been under way for weeks in collaboration with the Special Response Group against Organised Crime (Greco) of the Costa del Sol.
The organisations led by «Tayena» and «Piolín» have maintained a bitter rivalry over recent months, which has resulted in several violent episodes. The most significant incident was the death in April last year of the teenager Ibrahim Buselham, who was shot dead while riding a motorbike as he left El Príncipe. Some of the witnesses linked both «Tayena»’s and «Piolín»’s gangs, alternately, to the murder, which remains unsolved.
The crime led to the so-called «Operación Plomo», an operation launched by the National Police to investigate the feuds and violent clashes between two rival criminal gangs based in the city. The operation resulted in more than 70 arrests.
The war between the gangs also cost the life of Regulares corporal Dris Amar, who was shot dead last October in El Príncipe.
The death of «Tayena» on 12 April confirmed the virtual disappearance of his gang. By the time the murder took place, the National Police had for more than six months considered the organisation dismantled, a disintegration resulting from the arrest of its main leaders.
