Spanish police have arrested four people for ammunition trafficking and illegal possession of weapons.
These include:
- 6,760 metal cartridges of various calibres.
- 21 firearms.
- 8.6 kilos of gunpowder.
- 26 mortar grenades and silencers.
They have been seized in six searches carried out in the provinces of Valladolid, La Rioja and Valencia.
The operation began in October 2020 when arms trafficking specialists from the Information Headquarters (UCE-3) of the Civil Guard, in another independent operation, arrested one of the main ammunition traffickers in the country in Madrid.
This person had sold more than 36,000 metallic cartridges through the Internet throughout the national territory. One of the buyers who used this clandestine market to stock up on ammunition for weapons that they illegally possessed was a person residing in the province of Pontevedra.
The investigation and study of the evidence seized from this person by the Information Group of the Civil Guard of Pontevedra made it possible to discover that this person, in addition to acquiring ammunition from the trafficker arrested in Madrid, had other sources of supply, including two people residing in the province of Valladolid who were also engaged in the illegal sale of ammunition over the Internet.
These two residents of Valladolid illegally sold large amounts of ammunition worth more than 25,000 euros, including ammunition for war weapons.
The agents managed to identify several of the buyers of these people from Valladolid from the provinces of La Rioja and Valencia. Those identified in these last provinces stood out for the large amount of ammunition purchased and those who were suspected of having acquired them to use them in firearms that they possessed illegally.
Once all those involved were identified, in mid-December six entries and searches were carried out in various homes and buildings in the three aforementioned provinces, in which a total of four people were arrested for the crimes of trafficking and ammunition storage. , deposit and illegal possession of weapons, and deposit of explosives.
Weapons and ammunition seized
Ammunition trafficking is a criminal phenomenon closely related to the trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, since those criminals and organisations that possess and use weapons for their criminal activities have to resort to the black market due to the impossibility of going to authorized establishments. (gun shops) to acquire them, since their trade is regulated and restricted to holders of the corresponding paperwork.
In the last 5 years, the Information Service has carried out more than 120 operations against arms trafficking networks with the result of 491 people arrested and the seizure of 5,313 firearms (many of them war), 613,073 metal cartridges, 739 kg of explosives, more than 794,870 euros in cash from said illegal activities; dismantling 23 illegal arms and ammunition manufacturing workshops.
This operation has been carried out by the Information Group of the Pontevedra Civil Guard Command in coordination with the Information Headquarters (UCE-3). It has had the support of the Information Section of the Valencia Zone and the Information Groups of the Valladolid and Logroño Commands, in addition to the Cynological Service (weapons detection dogs) and the Citizen Security Units and Deactivation Groups of Explosives of said Commands.
