Joint operation of the Tax Agency and Civil Guard

• In the operation, four people have been arrested for a crime against Public Health
• The removed almonds were presumably destined for human consumption with a very dangerous fungus that is harmful to health.

May 20, 2023 .- The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, within the framework of operation 'Nuts', have carried out the intervention of 25 tons of almonds with very dangerous toxins. Four people have been arrested in the operation, three Spanish citizens and one from the Netherlands, for the alleged crimes of falsifying documents and against public health.

The operation began last January, following the arrival in Spain of 25 tons of almonds from Australia through an import process that supposedly complied with the regulations.

Once the almonds arrived in the province of Alicante, the Foreign Health Department of the Alicante Government Delegation carried out an analysis of said fruit, resulting in very high levels of aflatoxins (very toxic fungi that are harmful to consumption). human).

For this reason, from that moment on, the importer of said almonds was informed that they had to be destroyed. This person, residing in Mallorca, committed to this and requested authorization from Health to transfer the cargo to Mallorca and destroy it in an incinerator.

Once the almonds arrived in the town of Binissalem, those responsible for transporting the merchandise for destruction broke the sanitary seal of the container where they were transported and the merchandise was deposited in an industrial warehouse. They then proceeded to change the type and size of the containers and moved the almonds to Alicante due to the checks that the authorities were carrying out.

At the same time, instead of destroying the almonds, they replaced the merchandise with shells from other almonds with a similar volume, obtaining certificates for all 25 tons of almonds with toxins from the company in charge of certifying the destruction. In this way, with material and documentary falsehoods, they tried to divert a product that was highly harmful to health for consumption.

The investigators finally managed to seize the merchandise in Alicante and arrested the four people responsible for the importation, transportation and destruction of the almonds.

The operation has been carried out by the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard.