• Eleven people have been arrested on charges of 24 crimes.

• The members of the organization carried out thefts at the airports of Antwerp (Belgium), Lisbon and Porto (Portugal), Tenerife South, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Santiago de Compostela and transported the contraband merchandise to warehouses located in the United Kingdom

• It has been verified that the organization, based in the province of A Coruña, the United Kingdom and Romania, laundered more than 4.8 million euros.

June 26, 2026. Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency in A Coruña, together with agents of the Civil Guard belonging to the Fiscal and Borders Section of the Tenerife South and Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airports (A Coruña), have dismantled a criminal organization, known internationally as 'Clan Preda', based in A Coruña, the United Kingdom and Romania. Eleven people have been arrested, all of them foreign nationals (Romania, Algeria and Mali) who are accused of 24 crimes, including belonging to a criminal organization, continuous thefts, smuggling of restricted products, document forgery and money laundering, which could have been carried out, according to the investigations, at least from 2019 to the present. Through these illicit activities, the organization would have obtained abundant profits.

As a result of the investigations carried out, initiated in early 2025 and in coordination with Europol, the Portuguese Judicial Police, the Romanian Police and the UK Customs Authorities, the settlements of the members of the organization have been located in the Canary Islands, A Coruña, Manchester and Luton, as well as clarifying and dismantling all of their criminal activity.

To carry out the thefts, both of perfumes and tobacco products, the members of the organization performed surveillance and distraction functions for the staff. To extract the merchandise, they used concealment techniques to make detection more difficult. Subsequently, the stolen tobacco was transported by air to the United Kingdom, where the value of these products multiplied exponentially, being introduced into illicit distribution channels for resale throughout England through bazaars run by people of Kurdish and Pakistani origin.

During the operation, a number of clandestine warehouses were located in England, and it was proven that the contraband goods (perfumes and tobacco) came from robberies and thefts carried out at the airports of Antwerp (Belgium), Lisbon and Porto (Portugal), Tenerife South, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Santiago de Compostela.

The organization also carried out a money laundering scheme, establishing a series of companies that were dedicated to the buying and selling of used cars with the fundamental objective of obtaining economic benefits. Most of the time, sales were carried out through cash, which they later try to introduce into the legal circuit, often through the 'smurfing' scheme.

Once all the information had been gathered, and with the appropriate judicial authorization, three entries and searches were carried out, one in a house in Teo (A Coruña), and two others in two warehouses in Padrón (A Coruña), places where the main members of the organization were arrested.

The searches resulted in the seizure of numerous mobile phones, cash in various currencies, a gold ingot, several gold pieces, a large quantity of tobacco, and abundant documentation of interest to the investigation.

In addition, 13 bank accounts in Spain have been blocked, and through the application of a European Investigation Order, 12 bank accounts in Lithuania and 24 in Romania have been blocked. As a result of bank transactions detected in the investigation, eight shell companies dedicated to the purchase and sale of second-hand vehicles were located. These companies were created successively and in a cascading manner, with the aim of hindering the traceability of the money and evading the controls of the Spanish Tax Agency, ultimately consummating a money laundering offense amounting to more than 4.8 million euros.

The searches resulted in the seizure of 2,221 cartons of tobacco, more than 109 kilos of loose tobacco, 2,735 euros, 985 pounds sterling, and a gold ingot. In addition, 42 vehicles have been seized and another 51 vehicles remain with a preventive seizure notice in the Registry of Movable Property.