Six members of criminal gangs arrested in Spain over large seizure of ‘laughing gas’

The operation involved agents from the Malaga Customs Surveillance Unit and the National Police Organised Crime and Drugs Unit (UDYCO).

The investigation began in May, when police discovered three illegal warehouses where the gas cylinders were being stored.

In June and July, three raids took place in the towns of Torremolinos, Fuengirola and Marbella on the Costa del Sol, where 4,139 bottles of laughing gas were seized, weighing more than 3,000,000 litres and worth €300,000.

Balloons and mouthpieces used to inhale the gas were also seized.

Following the raids, six people were arrested in Malaga.

They would have been responsible for the logistics of the groups and the transport of the goods to Spain and organising their distribution throughout the country.

Legal proceedings are underway in the courts of Torremolinos, Fuengirola and Marbella, Spanish news agency SUR reports.

This comes after two Irish holidaymakers were arrested in Mallorca last month on suspicion of selling laughing gas to other tourists.

The teenage couple were arrested in the holiday resort of Santa Ponsa, near Magaluf, after police spotted one of the men siphoning gas from a gas cylinder into balloons. The other man ducked into a mobile phone shop as officers approached.

The older of the two is said to have tried to pose as someone else after being asked to identify himself and showing a photo of the passport of another man on his phone, who he later admitted was a friend of his.

The police seized two three-liter bottles of laughing gas, as well as twelve balloons and almost €3,000 in cash. One of the suspects had put the money in his sock.

The two teenagers, aged 18 and 19, appeared in court in July and have been released on bail pending the ongoing investigation.

Both men, originally from Cork, are being investigated on suspicion of a public health offence.

The eldest boy is being investigated on suspicion of identity theft.

Nitrous oxide is a fast-acting gas used as a whipping agent to make whipped cream, much faster than by hand or with a mechanical mixer.

It is also used as an analgesic in medicine and dentistry.

Intense and frequent inhalation of nitrous oxide can lead to a vitamin B12 deficiency, which can cause neurological damage.