More than 20 million euros or 20 million dollars in cash was found hidden in the walls and ceiling of the house of a former top police officer in Spain. The huge amount of money was found by the police while investigating the largest cocaine seizure in the country.
Police are comparing the police officer's house to the house of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Escobar's nephew reported finding $1.8 million hidden in a plastic bag inside the wall of a house.
The Guardian reported this information in a report on Spanish media.
Last month, 13 tons of cocaine were seized at the port of Algeciras in Spain. The large amount of drugs was being smuggled in banana containers from the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, known as a drug-trafficking hub. It is being called the largest cocaine seizure in Spain's history and one of the largest in the world.
Oscar Sánchez Gil, the former head of Spain's national police's anti-fraud and anti-money laundering department, was arrested in Madrid last week on suspicion of cocaine trafficking. At that time the police arrested 15 people including his girlfriend. His girlfriend works as a police officer in the Madrid region. However, the police did not reveal his identity.
Police raided Sánchez Gil's home in Alcalá de Henares and found around 20 million euros hidden in the walls and ceiling of the house. Apart from this, 1 million euros were found locked in a cupboard in his office.
Sanchez and his girlfriend were charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and membership of a criminal organization after appearing in a Madrid court last week, a judicial source said. At that time, the court ordered to keep them in police custody.
According to Spanish police, the container containing 13 tons of cocaine, hidden in bananas, belonged to a Spanish fruit importer in the southeastern coastal city of Alicante. He had been importing fruit from Ecuador for many years. After the cocaine seizure, police searched several homes and offices in Madrid and Alicante. At this time, Sanchez Gil's link with the importer was found.
According to a report in the Spanish daily El Mund, Sanchez Gil was already on the suspicion list of his colleagues. His phone also started browsing. This forty-year-old police officer was associated with drug traffickers for at least 5 years.
A source close to the investigation said Sánchez Gil had been providing drug traffickers with information on container surveillance at Spanish ports over the past few years.
Sánchez Gil recently converted some of the huge amount of embezzled money into cryptocurrency. Apart from this, he also bought several cars registered in the name of a relative, which were used on rent.
