Spain busts network smuggling dual-use machinery to Russia via third countries
Spanish police have arrested three people for smuggling dual-use machinery worth hundreds of thousands of euros to Russia through a scheme designed to evade EU sanctions, the National Police announced.
The arrests follow a previous operation in October 2024 where Spanish authorities, supported by EU anti-fraud office OLAF, broke up a separate sanctions evasion network that exported 13 tonnes of chemical substances to Russia via Kyrgyzstan.
In the current case, the suspects used a shell company to mask shipments of dual-use material to Russia, bypassing prohibitions through a triangulation scheme that utilised companies in other countries to hide the final destination of the material, with one of those arrested acting as a front man.
Police and customs agents from Spain’s Tax Agency, in collaboration with the National Intelligence Centre, arrested the three suspects on 10 June in Valencia province and searched the headquarters of a company in Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Alicante, where they seized computer equipment, electronic devices and documentation.
The investigation began in early 2024 when agents learned about the purchase and sale of a Spanish company dedicated to international machinery trade. Investigators found the suspects used the shell company to facilitate the export of products through different European customs offices, declaring a third country as the final and fictitious destination for the machinery, from which it would later be re-exported to Russia.
In the earlier Operation ‘Probirka’ reported by OLAF in October 2024, Spain’s National Police and Customs Surveillance Service arrested four individuals in Catalonia, three of whom were Russian nationals, and seized 13,000 kilogrammes of chemical compounds subject to export restrictions at the Port of Barcelona. That investigation revealed a Spanish company managed by Russian nationals had established a sophisticated scheme using shell companies in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to disguise the true destination of goods later rerouted to Russia.
In the current case, the dual-use machinery exported consisted of automated machine tools that can produce complex parts, used mainly in mass manufacturing industries such as automotive metallurgy, aerospace or military industries. These machining centres are considered dual-use material under European regulations due to their potential military applications.
At the end of the business network was a Russian company sanctioned by international organisations, police said. Two of the suspects were remanded in custody while the third was released with precautionary measures following their court appearance.
In April 2023, Spanish police busted a Russian and a Ukrainian national for involvement in smuggling defence materiel to Russia, with one of the detainees suspected to be the head of an international network specialising in bypassing export controls for military goods. Police and customs agents cracked down on the duo as they were about to ship windshields for military aircraft out of ‘European territory’, according to a police statement at the time.
https://www.policia.es/_es/comunicacion_prensa_detalle.php?ID=16587
