During the searches made in the operation carried out on Thursday by the General Commissariat of Intelligence, in collaboration with the Provincial Intelligence Brigades of Bilbao, Gerona, Barcelona, Santander and Valencia, against a criminal gang involved in the proliferation and illegal trafficking of weapons, the officers seized between 10,000 and 12,000 weapons, some of them reactivated decommissioned weapons and others unused, which would have sold on the black market for the sum of approximately 10 million euros.
They also found the stamps used to falsify the documentation of these weapons.
Among the many items seized were complete percussion mechanisms, reloading springs, safety locks, barrels, bolts, cylinders, revolver frames, firing mechanisms and locking systems, all destined for revamping weapons that had been seized and decommissioned. To this end, they used a sophisticated and well-equipped workshop to repair or reactivate these weapons.
The officers found assault weapons, including CETME, BERGMANN (more commonly known in Spain as “Naranjero”) and BERETTA rifles and several anti-aircraft machine guns capable of bringing down aircraft. They also uncovered a significant quantity of pistols of the following brands; Astra, Star, Mauser, Browning and Walther and numerous SMITH & WESSON revolvers, along other well-known brands.
Their investigations have shown that the infrastructure and work capabilities of this criminal gang were of such a magnitude that they were able to supply weapons and spare parts to other arms dealers in Europe. They had a huge quantity of key and essential parts for the reassembly and reactivation of weapons that had been purchased as decommissioned weapons. The police also seized some 80,000 euros in cash resulting from the illegal activities under investigation.
The judicial authorities sent three of the five detainees to prison without bail. Precautionary measures were imposed on the other two detainees, including seizing their passports and a ban on them leaving the country.
