Joint operation of the Tax Agency and the National Police

• Four people have been arrested who allegedly led a commercial network from Spain created to evade sanctions imposed on Russia due to the war in Ukraine.
• The arrests took place in the Catalan provinces of Barcelona and Girona and 13,000 kilos of chemical products were seized in a container located in the Port of Barcelona, as well as documentation and computer equipment in a house search.

October 15, 2024.- Officials from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and agents from the National Police have seized 13,000 kilos of chemical products in a container located in the customs area of the port of Barcelona bound for Russia. In the operation, four people have been arrested in the Catalan towns of Sant Feliu de Guisols (Girona), Cerdanyola del Vallès and Santa Perpètua de Mogoda (Barcelona) as alleged perpetrators of a continuing crime of smuggling prohibited goods.

The investigation began in 2022, after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, when a series of international sanctions against Russia began to limit the country's reach to the materials and technologies that support its war effort. In this context, a company managed by citizens of Russian origin was detected that had developed a commercial, logistical and economic triangulation system aimed at the illegal supply of chemical products to Russia.

During the course of the investigation, it has been established that internationally sanctioned chemical products, some of which are possible precursors to chemical weapons or nerve agents, have been exported in the past using this corporate structure.

The Spanish company had a subsidiary in Moscow that was the ultimate recipient of the chemicals, although this end-use was concealed by a succession of front companies in countries such as Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. These intermediary companies were in no way recipients of the goods, which were diverted by land to the Russian Federation.

The supply of the seized substance to Russia, as well as previous exports that have been documented during the investigation, are strictly prohibited by the European Regulation on restrictive measures motivated by actions by Russia destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, and its subsequent updates.

Illegal trafficking of dual-use materials and technologies

The Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Customs and Excise Department of the Tax Agency, within its powers for the discovery, prosecution and repression of smuggling crimes and infractions, exercises, among other functions, the supervision of international trade operations.

The missions 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.

The operation, led by the Central Court of Instruction number One of the National Court, has been developed jointly by the General Information Commission, the provincial information brigades of Barcelona, Girona and Murcia, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance and the Regional Area of Customs Surveillance of Catalonia of the Tax Agency, and has had the support of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

The investigation remains open with the aim of proceeding to the full identification, location and arrest of other individuals involved in these events.