A large-scale drug war has rocked southern Spain. An attack linked to drug trafficking has claimed the lives of three people in the coastal town of Isla Cristina, in the province of Huelva. The victims were a 39-year-old woman in her eighth month of pregnancy, her 62-year-old mother and a 16-year-old boy. The unborn child also did not survive. Mayor Genaro Horta described the crime scene as “horrifying“.
According to Reuters, investigators are treating the case as a brutal settlement of scores between rival drug gangs. The dead women are the mother and sister of the alleged leader of the “El Baba“ criminal group. The 16-year-old boy who was killed, however, was a passerby and has no connection to criminal structures, local publication The Olive Press confirms.
The attack was carried out in the “El Rocío“ neighborhood by two masked assailants who arrived on a motorcycle. One of them opened fire with a long-barreled automatic weapon, leaving the bodies of the victims on the street. Two people were also injured in the incident, including the alleged drug lord's 18-year-old nephew, who is in critical condition. The attackers fled and police are searching for them. The national Guardia Civil has taken over the full investigation into the triple murder. Regional Prime Minister Juanma Moreno called the incident "unacceptable" and asked for additional security resources from the central government to stop the free flow of drugs in Andalusia.