10 Arrested, 55 Kilos Of Heroin Found; Ringleader Compared To Pablo Escobar

A large heroin bust in Spain led to the arrests of 10 individuals and 55 kilograms of the drug taken into custody on Sunday (January 16), including the ringleader, who authorities referred to as "Spain's Pablo Escobar," the Associated Press reports.

Spanish police said the ring was based in the central province of Toledo with sources coming in from the Netherlands and later being distributed to parts of central and western Spain.

Authorities raided eight different properties during the drug bust, which extended through Madrid, Toledo and Cáceres.

Police referred to the ringleader of the scheme as "Spain's Pablo Escobar" of heroin and said he was closely linked to a global drug ring led by a Turkish citizen that transported drugs from Istanbul.

"The main importer of #heroína from Spain was arrested and the organization he led was dismantled.," Spanish national police shared in a translated tweet on Sunday. "55 kg of heroin have been seized, one of the main seizures in recent years. His base of operations was in #Toledo and he acquired the drug in #PaisesBajos."

Authorities began investigating into the drug ring last march, which led to the bust of a large shipment of heroin in December, though police didn't specify the exact date of the arrests.

Pablo Escobar, dubbed as "the King of Cocaine," was the founder and sole leader of the Medeillin Cartel and monopolized the cocaine trade from Colombia into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s, amassing an estimated net worth of $30 billion prior to his death in 1993.