Tax Agency operation against smuggling

• In an initial operation, 41,000 kilos of gases and 850,000 euros in cash were seized in Castellón during searches carried out in Algeciras at the private home of the alleged perpetrator of the crimes and at the headquarters of his two companies.

• In the second operation, three arrests were made and 12,000 kilos of gases and 18,000 euros in cash were seized in Alicante after, in collaboration with OLAF, tracking a truck coming from France.

October 23, 2025.- In two separate operations, the Tax Agency has seized more than 53,000 kilos of fluorinated greenhouse gases in Castellón and Alicante for alleged smuggling and tax violations. In addition, in the first operation, €850,000 in cash was seized from the home and business addresses of the alleged perpetrator, and tax fraud was estimated at €1 million. In the second operation, 18,000 euros in cash were seized and three people were arrested.

In the first operation, dubbed "Operation Balloons," Customs Surveillance officers and members of the National Customs Investigation Office of the Tax Agency seized three containers, each carrying 1,150 12-kilogram bottles of fluorinated gas R-134, after violating customs transit regulations, for a total of 41,000 kilos seized. This is the second largest seizure of this type of gas to date in Spain by the Tax Agency. These gases were to be introduced into the market without having paid the legally required taxes, thus gaining a competitive advantage over other legal operators.

In June, the Tax Agency was conducting an investigation into these three containers, which left the port of Barcelona and were declared destined for Seville, but never arrived there, as they were diverted en route to the municipality of Almassora, in Castellón.

Once there, investigators proceeded to seize and temporarily seize the first of the three containers, confirming a violation of customs transit regulations and, therefore, a smuggling offense. This circumstance was confirmed when it became clear that the organization had documented to Customs that the merchandise was already in Seville, a place where it never arrived.

Fraud organization from Algeciras

Within an hour of each other, the other two containers arrived at the same address, confirming the intent to commit the crime of smuggling with the three containers.

Once the relevant report for smuggling and tax violations against the Public Treasury was filed, the customs actions of the various operators involved, from transporters to consignees, were analyzed. Thus, it was concluded that the alleged material and intellectual author of the crimes used several companies with their tax and registered offices in the municipality of Algeciras. Therefore, a search warrant was issued for the private residence of the administrator of the two companies involved, as well as the registered offices of both companies.

After the searches were authorized by the Investigating Court No. 5 of Castellón de la Plana, they were carried out on October 2. There, a large amount of documentation was seized and various computer equipment and mobile phones were cloned; In addition, more than 724,000 euros were seized at the private residence of the suspect and just over 126,000 euros at the residence of the companies under investigation.

Fraudulent diversion

The fraud scheme in this operation is based on the use of the transit customs regime. This regime consists of merchandise leaving one customs facility for another without paying the legally required taxes. This method allows merchandise to travel between two different customs facilities, while always complying with customs transit regulations. Once in the customs area of arrival, the merchandise must be assigned a specific customs destination, which may be import, export, or any other destination authorized by regulations.

In these cases involving the use of the transit regime, which has already been used on other occasions for various illicit activities and which Spanish Customs monitors especially closely, the knowledge and experience of professionals accredited as private customs agents is required. They must be familiar with these special procedures and have the necessary actions with Customs to complete the transits and dispose of the merchandise in violation of customs regulations.

Second performance: another 12,000 kilos of gases seized

The second operation took place on October 17th, when Customs Surveillance officers from the Tax Agency, based on information received from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), located and tracked a truck as it entered Spain through La Junquera.

The truck's tracking continued to the province of Alicante, where investigators confirmed that the vehicle had stopped in a truck parking lot in the town of Albatera. Investigators noticed two individuals in a car at the scene. After contacting the driver of the vehicle transporting the gases, they acted as guides and escorts for the truck to an industrial warehouse in the town of San Isidro (Orihuela), where they began unloading the refrigerant gas cylinders for storage and subsequent distribution using smaller rental vans.

It was found that the end customers of the bottles were sending their location to the phone number of one of the three people who were ultimately arrested (the driver of the car and two people who were unloading the bottles). A total of 12,000 kilos of gases were seized, valued at approximately €413,000.

In this case, those responsible had declared the container carrying the gases as exported from the French port of Calais to Kenya. Since this export did not take place and the merchandise was unloaded at the Alicante warehouse, a crime of smuggling was committed.

The investigation, conducted by the Customs Surveillance operational units of Catalonia, Valencia, and Alicante and handled by Orihuela Court of Instruction No. 3, remains open. The possible existence of a criminal organization dedicated to smuggling fluorinated gases in the south of the province of Alicante, comprising both Ukrainian and Spanish citizens, has not been ruled out.