The State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, has wanted to avoid any responsibility of prosecutors in the murder of two civil guards in Barbate, by accusing the Ministry of the Interior, that depends of Fernando Grande-Marlaska, if he did not inform them of the disappearance of the Civil Guard unit OCON-Sur, destined to combat ‘narco’ In Andalucia.
This was expressed in an interview on Onda CeroBeing asked if he believes that Interior was wrong to eliminate OCON-Sur, after the criticism that Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has received for this following the death last Friday of two civil guards in Barbate (Cádiz) when they were run over by a drug boat. Besides, has stated that the current Criminal Procedure Law, “from the 19th century, is not the best instrument” to combat these crimes.
Regarding whether Interior was wrong, García Ortiz has indicated that he cannot make that statement, although He then emphasized that the end of OCON-Sur “was not communicated to the Prosecutor’s Office,” which was reflected in its 2022 Report, where it indicated that the disappearance of that unit had the consequence of reducing drug seizures.
Interior sources stressed yesterday that “no coordination body has been deactivated since the Strait plan began,” since the 150 reinforcement agents who were in OCON-Sur in 2018 —when Grande-Marlaska created it— A few months ago they became part of the command staff of the area and, in addition, there is a coordination and intelligence center that responds to the acronym CRAIN.
The attorney general has stated that the Prosecutor’s Office “is not an isolated body,” but works every day with the State Security Forces and Bodies and knows directly or indirectly what they do, since the police commanders “work side by side » with anti-drug prosecutors, he stressed.
«Then I believe that it is a joint work that must be valued together. Every police operation has a fiscal and then judicial correlation. This is the only way a good chain works, in this case, a good crime prosecution chain,” he added.
The problem of drug trafficking is “multidimensional” and common to all of Spain, according to García Ortiz, who has defended the National Drug Plan and its approach: “Only restrictive, repressive measures do not put an end to a public health problem in which there are social, economic, personal and public health factors in the midst of everything.
Regarding the PP’s proposal that the National Court take on serious cases of organized crime and drug trafficking after Barbate, the attorney general wanted to remember that this is an approach that the Prosecutor’s Office has already made.
“Welcome are all the initiatives that we have already, by the way, said and pointed out in the Attorney General’s Office itself,” he maintained, while also defending extending it to the most serious cases, such as transnational organized crime, because “it is of great concern.” ».
García Ortiz has regretted that the procedural system “does not help” to pursue new forms of crime such as transnational crime, which uses means and forms that go beyond the borders of a judicial district, a province or an autonomous community, since it uses networks and all the means at its disposal. In his opinion, the current Criminal Procedure Law, “from the 19th century, is not the best instrument to do so.”
Finally, the attorney general has considered it a “relief” in the face of a “tragedy” like that of Barbate that the Cádiz anti-drug prosecutor denounces a lack of means to combat drug trafficking. “We have to reflect and see how we can all improve, of course also the Prosecutor’s Office,” he assured.
