Joint operation between the Tax Agency, the Civil Guard, OLAF and Europol

• In the operation, 27 people were arrested and three were investigated, and 110 tons of gases that deplete the ozone layer were seized.
• The operation has been carried out in eleven provinces (Granada, Valencia, Albacete, Toledo, Madrid, Murcia, Malaga, Seville, Jaen, Cordoba and Badajoz)

June 28, 2022.- The Tax Agency, in a joint operation with the Civil Guard, Europol and OLAF, has dismantled a major criminal organization, structured on four levels, dedicated to the illicit trafficking in Spain of greenhouse refrigerant gases, that is, fluorinated gases that deplete the ozone layer, many of them even flammable.

In the operation, 27 people have been arrested, including the ringleaders of the network, and three have been investigated for alleged crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation, smuggling, violations of the Treasury and Social Security, money laundering, violations of the environment, violations of public health and violations of workers' rights.

110 tons of different types of gas valued at eleven million euros, several gas transfer cases for air conditioning, 364,000 euros in cash, several high-end vehicles, a large amount of documentation and computer material, 600 air conditioning units, as well as 435 grams of cocaine base, 435 ecstasy tablets, material for cutting narcotic substances, a precision scale, a press and other items used for drug trafficking were seized. In addition, 20 house searches have been carried out, ten companies have been inspected and arrests have been made in eleven provinces (Granada, Valencia, Albacete, Madrid, Toledo, Murcia, Seville, Almeria, Jaen, Cordoba and Badajoz).

As a precautionary measure, bank accounts of members of the organization have been totally or partially blocked.

They sold the refrigerant gas three times cheaper

The investigations began in September 2021, when Seprona was able to verify that greenhouse gas (GHG) imported from China was being sold clandestinely in different locations in Granada at a price three times below the market price due to the non-payment of the corresponding taxes to the Spanish Treasury, which is why a joint investigation was opened with the Tax Agency acting as both judicial police and jurisdictional assistance, the Central Operational Unit for the Environment of the Civil Guard (UCOMA), Europol and OLAF.

As a result of these investigations, a network of companies structured into four levels of criminal operations was discovered, including, on the one hand and as the first level, the importer of these gases, whose company is based in Valencia, and below that, a distribution network whose two ringleaders have their base of operations in Granada. It was also discovered that the latter in turn had a secondary distribution network spread throughout Andalusia and other Spanish provinces.

The importer of the gas from China introduced it irregularly under the guise of so-called external Community customs transit, which allows a company to circulate through the territory of the European Union merchandise imported from non-EU countries destined for a third country located outside the Union, all without the need for said merchandise to be subject to the satisfaction of any type of import duty, tariffs, taxes or commercial policy.

Thus, it introduced into Spain, specifically through the port of Valencia, tons of gas that would supposedly travel through several EU countries to its end-use in a third country such as Jordan, but the truth was that this merchandise would remain in Spain and would be distributed. by the organization throughout the national territory for a final amount three times below the market price, a price that was promoted by the aforementioned tax exemption, in addition to the avoidance of the Tax on Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases. In particular, non-payment of this tax, insofar as it is a specific tax figure in the Spanish system, generates significant unfair competition in the distribution sector in the national market.

To facilitate the circulation and distribution of the goods throughout Spain, the leader of the organisation had created a shell company in Portugal that was supposedly the recipient of the goods, which gave the gas transports an appearance of legality if they were eventually inspected by the agents, trying to make them believe that the cargo was headed to the neighbouring country.

The detainees laundered the money obtained through a shell company created for this purpose, or by purchasing high-end vehicles or real estate; But above all, they did so through a Madrid travel agency, whose managers have also been arrested, where clients paid for the gas as holiday packages or hotel services.

Fluorinated Gases Regulation

Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases regulates the introduction of these gases into the European Union and provides, among other things, that operators must be registered on the F-Gas portal. Investigators have found that the companies affiliated with this criminal organisation were not registered in this register, nor did they have authorisation for the marketing and distribution of fluorinated gases, nor did the workers have adequate training for the trafficking, handling, storage and sale of greenhouse gases (GHG).

In March, during an inspection of an industrial warehouse owned by the detainees, officers found a batch of R404A gas that had entered through the port of Valencia. These bottles were supposed to end up in a warehouse in Hamburg (Germany) for later export to Jordan, however, they were found in a warehouse in an industrial estate in Jun (Granada), with the gas entering Spain fraudulently.

It should be noted that the transfer of these types of gas between bottles requires authorization and must be carried out under optimal safety conditions for people and the environment, which was done in a rudimentary way with the consequent danger, since distributors could mix gases of different nature, which often leads to serious breakdowns for the equipment in which they are used. 

The proceedings are at the disposal of Court number four of Granada and the Environmental Section of the Granada Prosecutor's Office