• Seven people have been investigated as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of smuggling, against public health, against industrial property, against natural resources and the environment, theft of property, simulation of a crime and membership in a criminal organization.
• In two warehouses, located in San Javier and Murcia, nearly 24 tons of illegal phytosanitary products, valued at 800,000 euros, have been seized.
• The substances entered Spanish territory through the Madrid-Barajas airport and, by sea, through the port of Valencia.

May 3, 2024.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in Murcia and the Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia have jointly developed operation 'Phytes', an investigation which has resulted in the dismantling of a criminal group allegedly dedicated to the introduction and marketing of illegal phytosanitary products from China.

In the operation, nearly 24 tons of these substances have been seized in San Javier and Murcia, valued at 800,000 euros, and seven people have been investigated, one of them arrested, as alleged perpetrators of smuggling crimes against public health. , against industrial property, against natural resources and the environment, seizure of assets, simulation of a crime and membership in a criminal organization.

The investigation began in 2022, when the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency detected the entry of aluminized envelopes from China, through the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, suspected of containing illegal merchandise.

The initial investigation made it possible to find out that the marketing company was based in the Region of Murcia, so the investigations focused on finding out where they could be stored.

From that moment, informed by the Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Region of Murcia, the Customs Surveillance Service of the Region of Murcia and the Seprona of the Murcia Civil Guard, they began a series of coordinated services.

During the surveillance and controls carried out on the members of this criminal group, it was possible to locate the place where the products were stored and distributed, at which time, the investigative team made a visit to that industrial warehouse, located in San Javier, with the in order to identify, recount and extract samples of the products to know the extent of the irregularities that could be committed.

Crime simulation

As a result of this inspection, those investigated simulated the theft of the products – which the laboratories have subsequently identified as prohibited – and filed a complaint in the corresponding court, abandoning that warehouse as a safe storage and distribution location.

The investigators found out that the products reported stolen had been transferred to two other enclaves, located in San Javier and in a disused pig warehouse in the Murcian district of Los Dolores.

The search of these two premises allowed the location and seizure of nearly 24 tons of phytosanitary products, liquid and solid, valued at 800,000 euros, as well as documentation related to the criminal network.

A portion of the seized phytosanitary products lacked proper labeling and packaging and their sale is not authorized, with several companies in the national market that market them legally. Presumably, the now dismantled criminal network sold them at half the market price, which also represents unfair competition for the sector.

forbidden genre

Most of the seized products incorporated substances used in pesticide, insecticide or fungicide preparations, included in the List of active substances with active ingredients mentioned in Regulation (EU) No 649/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of July 4, 2012, regarding the export and import of dangerous chemical products and are considered a prohibited genre, according to Law 12/1995, of December 12, on the Repression of Smuggling.

Uplift of goods

The investigators also discovered that the leader of the organization – a 43-year-old woman of Romanian nationality and settled in the Region of Murcia – who had accumulated a significant real estate and automobile assets with the profits of the illicit activity, simulated donations and transfers of homes and vehicles to his mother and other people he trusts, in order to avoid the measures that could be adopted against these assets and try to avoid the pecuniary responsibilities that could be imposed on him.

Finally, during the exploitation phase of the operation, two vehicles used to transport the products have been seized and three homes and a caravan have been preventively blocked, despite the seizure of assets perpetrated by the leader of the organization.

According to the investigation, the business began with the obtaining of phytosanitary products not regulated in the European Union, continued with their illegal entry into Spanish territory and ended with their distribution nationwide.

Investigators have determined that, apparently, the criminal network began with the introduction of aluminized envelopes of half a kilo of product through the Barajas airport, although, confident that they were going unnoticed, purchases increased, even introducing large quantities through the port of Valencia.

The seven investigated – two women and five men, of Romanian, Spanish and Colombian nationalities –, the products and effects seized, as well as the proceedings carried out, have been placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court number 1 of San Javier (Murcia).