THE former head of the Guardia Civil’s surveillance unit at the port of Valencia has been arrested after allegedly being paid bungs to ignore drug shipments.
Jesus Fernandez Bolaño was jailed with six others after a joint investigation by Internal Affairs officers from the Guardia Civil and the Policia Nacional.
He’s been accused of helping a Kosovar Albanian drug network that sent supplies via Valencia.
FERNANDEZ BOLAÑO
A search of his villa at Cullera turned up nearly €90,000 in cash stashed away in various parts of the property, as bulldozers and sniffer dogs trained in smelling banknotes were deployed.
Despite his relatively modest income, he also had a flat in Valencia which was also searched along with his work locker.
The investigation produced a breakthrough when Internal Affairs officers set up a trap with a ton of cocaine shipped in amidst a fruit consignment.
The cache was taken from the port to a local warehouse with police then swooping in to make their arrests.
Besides drug trafficking, Fernandez Bolaño faces charges of bribery, disclosing secret information and not performing his duties in prosecuting crimes.
He had stood down from his position in May, awaiting a new job within the force.
Former Guardia colleagues were suspicious of his activities- especially over the fact that he quickly went to the port when drug stashes arrived.
“He was the first to be there,” officers stated and they also commented on his ‘lavish lifestyle’.
Controversy is nothing new to Fernandez Bolaño from his days of being the Policia Local chief in Caravaca de la Cruz (Murcia).
He left his position in 2013 to go to his new Guardia Civil job in Valencia at a time when prosecutors started an investigation into his role in the disappearance of hundreds of vehicles from the Caravaca municipal depot.
Charges against him were eventually dismissed last year.
