Spain drug den suspects collected €168,000 in welfare benefits

An investigation by the Ertzaintza, the Basque police, concludes that three of the five arrested over the largest drug den in Vitoria, Spain, collected social benefits totalling more than €168,000 while driving around in two Porsche Cayennes and controlling three properties.

The Ertzaintza closed an 18-month operation against a incivil organisation based in Vitoria since 2014 on Friday 30 October 2026. Five arrests, including three brothers aged 57, 50 and 44 identified as the ringleaders. The eldest, who drove a Porsche Cayenne that stood out in the Buesa Arena car park during Ramadan on 20 March, was not in any police database until that date. He had no known employment. Nor did his two brothers. Of the two women arrested, only one pays social security contributions for a legal profession.

## A drug den in Coronación and €20,000 clean a month

Residents of the Coronación neighbourhood described to the police a daily flow of between 15 and 20 people heading to the flat that the investigation identifies as the largest drug den in Vitoria. They sold cocaine and other drugs. Part of the merchandise and the profits were kept at another home in the Casco Viejo, the old town, where €8,640 was found. The Ertzaintza estimates the organisation made around €20,000 clean a month.

The searches yielded barely 50 grams of cocaine and €8,640 in cash. That is why investigators suspect the money is being sent to the detainees' country of origin, where they would own more properties. The five were released on bail on Saturday, with their passports confiscated and an obligation to report regularly to court. They were represented by a privately hired lawyer from Bilbao.

## Lanbide paid €112,276 to one of the ringleaders

The Cayenne driver received the Income Guarantee Benefit (RGI, a Basque minimum income) and the Housing Supplementary Benefit between May 2014 and July 2019. During that period, in which the investigation suspects he was already involved in drug trafficking, he pocketed **€56,102.28**: €40,218.95 from the RGI and €15,883.33 from the rent benefit. Last year he had to repay €2,058.13 for overpayments.

His 57-year-old brother began receiving the RGI in May 2012, shortly after settling in Álava. Two years later he already appeared in police investigations for drug dealing that came to nothing. Since then, apart from a six-month interval, he has combined the RGI with the rent benefit every month. He has accumulated **€94,660.22** from the former and €17,615.82 from the latter. As of 30 September his file at Lanbide, the Basque employment service, stood at **€112,276.04**. Between the two of them they exceed €168,000.

The third recipient, aged 42, is part of a household unit: a relative collects the benefit monthly and she benefits as a secondary member. Police sources lament that everything points to them continuing to collect. Basque government rules limit the withdrawal of these benefits to pre-trial detention, a prison sentence, or an arrest for fraud related to falsifying documents or concealing income or assets.

## Two Cayennes, a Golf GTD and three properties

Despite having no known employment, the detainees drove around in two Porsche Cayennes, both seized, and a new Golf GTD that is still being sought. They controlled at least three properties in the capital of Álava. The investigation places the organisation's activity in Vitoria since 2014 and classifies it as a "incivil organisation".

The operation was carried out by ertzainas from the Portal de Foronda police station. The gang sold cocaine and other drugs from the drug den in Coronación and kept part of the merchandise in the Casco Viejo. The Ertzaintza suspects the money earned goes to the detainees' country of origin, where they would own more properties. This is a police hypothesis, not a proven fact.

The case remains under investigation and the five detainees are on bail. Any assessment of their guilt rests with the court.