Joint operation of the Tax Agency, National Police and Municipal Police of Madrid

• Twelve people have been arrested, and another eight are being investigated, for their alleged membership in an organization from which a total of 1,352,785 toys and 2,727,946 units of sanitary products have been seized.
• They bought the disassembled products in China and, once introduced into the Spanish market by different means, they were assembled mainly in a Pinto warehouse to later distribute them to different parts of the rest of the country.
• The operation has been carried out due to the proximity of Christmas and, therefore, the considerable increase in the consumption of this type of products that puts the health of consumers at risk.

December 18, 2020.- The Tax Agency, in a joint operation with the National Police and the Municipal Police of Madrid, have dismantled one of the largest distribution centers for toys and health products and illegal toilets in the community of Madrid. A total of 1,352,785 counterfeit toys and 2,727,946 units of health products have been seized, among other effects. Twelve people have been arrested and another eight are being investigated for their alleged involvement in the events.

The operation has been carried out due to the approach of the Christmas holidays, in which the consumption of toys and other products increases considerably. During the first phase, the Madrid Municipal Police carried out several inspections and various products that were being sold in stores were identified, thus committing different crimes against the consumer market and against industrial property rights.

As a result of this information, the facts were brought to the attention of the National Police and, jointly with the Tax Agency and the Local Police, the appropriate procedures began to be carried out in order to identify the distributors, suppliers and the origin of the products. products that would be the subject of crimes.

In the second phase, and after the practice of numerous coordinated surveillance between the acting bodies, the members of the criminal group were fully identified, which had its nerve center and distribution and manufacturing center in a warehouse located in the town of Pinto.

Toys that arrived divided into parts as a security measure

The strategy followed by the group responded to an organizational structure known as 'spider web'. In this way, they bought the products in China and, once introduced into the Spanish market by different means, in a fractional way and in pieces, they were assembled mainly in the Pinto warehouse to later redistribute them to different points of sale in the Cobo Industrial Estate. Lane. These, in turn, acted as suppliers of those same products to other sellers from different parts of the rest of the country.

The objects arrived in Spain disassembled in different blocks and were assembled in the warehouses of Cobo Calleja and Pinto. Different parts of the toys arrived in different shipments, on different days, and sometimes using different ports and airports of entry. This dismemberment constitutes in itself a security measure that aims to make it difficult to detect infringing products at European customs.

In the establishment open to the public, merchants had, based on the final volume intervened, the right amount to respond to daily demand. In the case of not having the necessary stock, or when faced with a large order, they had a transport and collection team that traveled to the storage warehouses to supply the necessary product.

Before the product reached the different redistributors, the group carried out different previous tasks in various warehouses. In this way, a warehouse was located where there was a trailer carrying out unloading tasks, another storage warehouse with the products ready for distribution and another warehouse where the final product was manufactured by assembling the different parts that had been received.

In these warehouses, closed to the public, most of the products were accumulated, one of them being the main production center and where, in addition to hundreds of thousands of toys and masks being stored, there were different workers in charge of safekeeping. , assembly and storage of products.

Large volume of products as Christmas approaches

The enormous volume that these merchants planned to manage in these days prior to the Christmas campaign highlights the extraordinary profitability that is obtained from the sale of these products. The variety and quantity of the products seized, a total of 1,352,785 counterfeit toys, makes it impossible to establish, at the moment, an exact amount of the benefits that would have been obtained, the researchers estimating that, on the downside, the average profit per toy is around five euros. This would mean a total of more than 6,810,000 euros. Likewise, the average profit per medical product is around one euro, which would provide a total profit of 2,727,946 euros.

During this operation, twelve people have been arrested, while another eight are being investigated for their alleged involvement in the events. In addition to the toys and medical products, 19,300 euros in cash have been seized. 

In the exploitation phase of the operation, inspectors from the Consumer and Quality Area of the Community of Madrid have participated, in order to identify and certify the different dysfunctions and health risks that existed in the different products located. 

Filming of operation (to download the video you must enter the following web address):  https://we.tl/t-wp6g2GA3tk