Calculating gang of 'cocaine cowboys' from Killorglin - under surveillance in hotels and BMWs

In the summer of 2020, Spanish police followed the Irish Sinaloa gang, watching their steps from luxury hotels, international flights and sports car rides to scooter rides in Barcelona.

Beginning in April 2020, European agencies had access to millions of text messages and hundreds of thousands of images, thanks to the hacking of the EncroChat service. Under the code names Operation Venetic (NCA) and Eternal (Metropolitan Police), the agencies began analyzing data and informing local law enforcement.

The Spanish Guardia Civile announced its intention to conduct surveillance and filming of the involved Irish gang members living in Barcelona. Inquiries were made to the airline for information about the flights of Morris O'Shea Salazar and his girlfriend Juliana Brand Gomez as they traveled between Mexico and Europe. The "lavish lifestyle" of the alleged cocaine smugglers was noted, including check-ins at luxury hotels, boutique viewings, etc.

Trained officers spent days filming O'Shea Salazar and his gang. The group was filmed on numerous flights to Lisbon and Amsterdam, allowing police to build up an overall picture of their alleged international smuggling operation.

Spanish police found a number of interesting details such as using false documents for international travel, repairing refrigerated vans, using third parties to make transactions, etc. They also examined photos showing huge sets of money, as well as pictures of containers with barcodes and door codes so that recipients would not be mistaken.

A covert operation is required to continue, as an investigation of this nature requires a large amount of resources and security measures. Spanish police hope to catch the gang at the scene of the crime in order to provide convincing evidence for the court.

However, the leader of the gang, Morris O'Shea, seems to have gotten scared and has not returned from his trip to Mexico, and other gang members are still on the run.