Joint Chelico Operation by the Tax Agency and the National Police

• The arrests have been carried out in the towns of Irún and Hondarribia (Guipúzcoa)

• One of the detainees is believed to be the head of an international business network run from Spain dedicated to the illicit trafficking of defense material

April 5, 2023.- Officials from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and agents from the National Police have arrested two people of Russian and Ukrainian nationality in the Guipuzcoan towns of Irún and Hondarribia for their alleged participation in a crime of smuggling of defense material.

The investigation began in June 2021, when agents learned of the presence in Spain of a Ukrainian couple who were allegedly managing a supply chain for military aeronautical material from a Spanish company, evading the controls established by current legislation on this matter and, therefore, committing a crime of smuggling.

An analysis of the company's foreign trade operations immediately revealed a network that had in-depth knowledge of freight transport logistics. In addition, he had designed a sophisticated international customs engineering to carry out operations in which the customs documentation declared that the destination of the goods were countries not subject to embargo, when in reality their end-use was Russia.

Illicit trafficking of defence materials and dual-use technologies

The functions of the General Information Commission of the National Police include the investigation of crimes related to the illicit trafficking of defense materials and dual-use technologies, within the framework of community control regulations and international embargoes.

For its part, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Customs and Excise Department of the State Tax Administration Agency, within its powers to discover, pursue and suppress smuggling acts and infractions, exercises, among other functions, the supervision of international trade operations.

In the current war scenario in Ukraine, the supply chains of the Russian military industry have been seriously damaged by the application of Council Regulation (EU) 833/2014, relating to restrictive measures motivated by Russian actions that destabilize the situation. in Ukraine and its subsequent reinforcement as a result of the Russian invasion of February 2022.

The structure that was affected was designed to supply military equipment to the aeronautical sector. The operation was launched in an attempt to prevent the imminent departure from European territory of equipment for the cabins of military aircraft.

As a result of the intervention of the agents, two arrests were made and subsequent house searches were carried out, in which physical documentation and computer equipment were seized, as well as two high-end vehicles.

The operation was carried out jointly by the General Information Commission, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, the Regional Customs Surveillance Area of the Basque Country and the Provincial Information Brigade of San Sebastián, under the direction of the Central Court of Instruction number Five of the National Court and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation remains open with the aim of proving other illegal commercial operations of the same nature that have already been carried out, as well as those that are in progress, and proceeding to the full identification, location and arrest of other individuals involved in these events.

Central Court number five of the National Court ordered the imprisonment of one of the detainees.