Revealing a gang that uses Ukrainian pilots to transport drugs from an Arab country

Spanish police have dismantled a drug trafficking network that used Ukrainian pilots to transport drugs across the Strait of Gibraltar on night flights, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph.

According to the newspaper, security forces arrested two Ukrainians while they were trying to escape after landing by helicopter in a field near Chiclana de la Frontera in southern Spain, indicating that the operation took place last January, but the details of the arrests and the methods of the drug smuggling gang were not revealed until now.

One of the pilots was identified as Vitor Blaha, a former colonel in the Ukrainian police, and he is accused of piloting the helicopter, which was carrying about 800 kilograms of marijuana, while a third man, a Moroccan national residing in Spain, died near the landing site of the helicopter after his car collided during a crash. His attempt to escape.

During the operation, nine people were arrested, including two men described by security forces as expert pilots. In addition to the helicopter containing the drugs, a French-made Alouette III, a similar helicopter was also seized nearby.

It is believed that among the detainees are mechanics who maintain helicopters using parts brought from countries of the Soviet Union. The gang's smuggling route included flying across the strait to northern Morocco, where the drugs were loaded.

The pilots then return to Spain at night, traveling at an altitude of no more than 30 meters above sea level without using the helicopter lights and with the navigation systems turned off to avoid electronic detection.

According to investigators, a helicopter like the one Blaha was flying that night “is almost undetectable because it flies so low that the mountains cause it to miss the waves received by Spanish radars.”

The fees charged by a pilot like Blaha are believed to be around 150,000 euros per flight.

The operation began when the security forces learned that a helicopter had left an unspecified location in the province of Cadiz, heading south. The officers coordinated with the Moroccan police to track down the plane, and as it returned north to Spanish airspace, a security force helicopter chased the plane and coordinated with officers on the ground to intercept the suspects as soon as they landed.

About 30 bundles of cannabis were stored in a space behind the pilot, where the rear seats had been removed.

It is reported that a shipment of 800 kilograms of hashish in Spain could be worth about 4 million euros.

The Civil Guard said in a statement that the cost of purchasing a helicopter like the one used by the gang is about 900,000 euros.