The Civil Guard has dismantled an organization dedicated to arms and ammunition trafficking in which weapons of war have been involved and whose clients included criminals, as reported by this police force.
In the operation, 12 people have been arrested and more than 300 firearms have been seized, including 17 weapons of war (assault rifles and submachine guns).
The researchers warn that, given their automatic fire capacity (machine gun), the illegal possession of these weapons by individuals poses a "maximum risk" for citizen security, whether they are used or end up in the hands of criminal organizations or terrorists.
The operation, called Sayal, is part of a comprehensive plan for the control of firearms, known in the body as PICAF, and its main objective is to prevent these weapons from being diverted to criminal or terrorist groups.
The investigations have spread to 11 provinces.
In addition to the 339 weapons, 37,000 cartridges of different calibers, 13.2 kilos of gunpowder and silencers, among other effects, have been seized.
More information
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Part of the small arms intervened by the Civil Guard in the operation.
Civil Guard
Cartridges in postal package
The investigation began in October of last year, when, in another independent operation, one of the main ammunition traffickers in the country was arrested in Madrid and is credited with selling more than 36,000 metal cartridges over the internet, which he then sent to buyers. in postal packages.
The civil guards found out that the suspect had been involved in this illegal activity for several years and that his clients were people who had unlicensed and unregistered firearms, "some of them related to crime," according to a statement from the Civil Guard made public. this Thursday.
This first arrest and all subsequent inquiries led to two other actions.
The first, this February;
and the second, last week.
In total, the agents have carried out 17 searches in Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Navarra, Gerona, Tarragona, Pontevedra, Lugo, Salamanca, Murcia and Melilla.
One of the detainees in Madrid had 109 firearms seized, most of them short (pistols and revolvers).
He also had a state-of-the-art and fully functional AK47 automatic assault rifle (weapon of war), 11 stun guns converted to live fire, and four handcrafted semi-automatic pistols;
in addition to numerous parts and components to assemble and manipulate firearms.
The Civil Guard dismantles an organization dedicated to arms and ammunition traffickingcivil guard
Another of those arrested in Toledo had an arsenal made up of 104 firearms, including 75 short, 20 long and four detonators converted to fire live.
The detainee had illegally introduced many of these weapons into Spain after acquiring them abroad, according to the investigation.
In Lugo, in addition to numerous weapons and ammunition, the Civil Guard agents seized 2.7 kg of marijuana and 15 tusks and ivory figures, owned by an investigator who was arrested in Melilla.
The detainees are accused of the alleged crimes of arms trafficking, weapons storage, war weapons storage, ammunition storage, explosives storage, illegal possession of prohibited weapons, drug trafficking and smuggling.
In the last five years, the Civil Guard has carried out more than 108 operations against arms trafficking networks in which 479 people have been arrested, 5,240 weapons have been seized, many of them war weapons, and 21 illegal drug-making workshops have been dismantled. weapons and ammunition.
Two rifle grenades and five tear gas, among the intervened effects
Among the list of objects seized from the 12 detainees in the Civil Guard's Sayal operation there are 339 firearms, including two rifle grenades and five tear gas canisters, more than 100 high-capacity chargers, or machines for the manufacture of ammunition.
Here you can check the detail:
176 short arms (pistols and revolvers)
75 long weapons (rifles, rifles and shotguns)
17 weapons of war (assault rifles and submachine guns)
19 blasting weapons converted to fire live
4 fully crafted firearms
39 other firearms (flobert, banned, vintage, etc.)
37,426 metallic cartridges of different calibers.
13.2 kg of gunpowder.
7,230 percussion caps and large quantities of cases, projectiles and various reloading machines for the illegal manufacture of ammunition.
€10,600 cash
Numerous parts, essential components (barrels, bolts, frames, slides, revolver barrels) of firearms.
More than 100 chargers, many of them high capacity.
2 rifle grenades and 5 tear gas
6 Silencers
2.7kg of marijuana
15 ivory figures and tusks