Two Ex-players, One Current Player and Two Football Agents Arrested on Suspicion of Smuggling 600 kilos of Cocaine Into Spain

After getting the nod from The Gaffer to start posting on La Liga Talk, I was in search of the first article I’d sink my teeth into.

Drugs? Football Players? FIFA Agents? 600 pounds of blow?  Oh come on now, this can’t be real?

Today in Spain, eleven people were arrested, five of which make or made their living in the world of football, on suspicion of smuggling 600 kilograms (yes, 600 kilograms) of Cocaine into Spain.

The main culprit behind all of this was Zoran Matijevic, a Serbian agent who apparently had too much time on his hands and wasn’t happy with the money he was bringing in via the beautiful game.  Apparently he was a bit behind the 8-Ball and needed to bring in some extra cash, and thanks to his frequent trips to South America, he was able to find a way to do that, through drug smuggling.

Also implicated in the sting, entitled Operation Cyclone, were two former Hercules players, Pedrag Stankovic and Jesus Emilio Dias, aka Txutxi.  The most suprising of the bunch is Rayo Vallecano defender Carlos de La Vega, a 29 year old Spanish national who went from hopes of going up with Rayo (who currently sit third place in the table) to making sure Bubba doesn’t get a hold of him at night.

The scheme was simple.  The five of them would front the cash needed to buy the drugs as if it was a huge mutual fund. Matijevic would go to South America, arrange for the sale of said drugs, and camouflage the drugs in windmill parts destined for Madrid.  Brilliant…what could go wrong?

In this case everything, as the Spanish authorities has a special sting ongoing and arrested a total of 11 men as the package made landfall in Madrid, but before the football conglomerate could get their hands on the nose candy.

This isn’t the end for Operation Cyclone as authorities questioned more players at both Rayo Vallecano and Poli Ejido.

No word yet on the fate of any of the involved players or agents, but I’m sure we’ll find out breaking news from such lovely telebasura such as Aqui Hay Tomate.

5 bucks to the first person who has a sign at Rayo’s ground saying ‘No, no, we don’t blow!’

Wait, I think Villarreal are already all over that one…