Police arrest 9 in Madrid drug bust for methamphetamines

MADRID — Spanish police have arrested nine people on drug trafficking and racketeering charges after raids of their underground laboratories in Madrid revealed the synthetic drug known as Tucibi, a relatively new type of methamphetamine.

Eight of the nine are Colombians, according to law enforcement agents, including a ringleader couple from the Latin American country.

Police found significant amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and ketamine in their four raids of two apartments and a couple of underground labs.

The bust in Spain was announced yesterday, a day after high-level drug lord Alejandro Arboleda Uribe was arrested in the Colombian town of Medellin. Arboleda's nickname is "Alejo Tucibi," as he is considered the creator of the 2CB methamphetamine, also known as "Tucibi."

Spanish authorities, however, have rejected any connection between Arboleda's arrest and the Madrid police sting.