23 arms traffickers arrested in Málaga and Alicante

23 arms traffickers arrested in Málaga and Alicante
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By m.p. - May 27, 2009 - 5:16 PM
The weapons came from Bulgaria and were bought with money from drugs

A National Police operation has broken up a drugs and weapons trafficking organisation which smuggled arms into Spain from Bulgaria and sold them onto other criminal gangs. The Interior Ministry said in a press release that 23 people are in custody and 19 weapons have been seized after eight property searches.

The investigation began with information from Bulgaria and led police to identify members of a gang based in Dénia, Alicante province, who police believed were selling arms to criminal gangs in Valencia and other coastal areas. Other members of the network were identified on the Costa del Sol, and the man who acted as a go-between between the Bulgarian suppliers and the Spanish buyers was located in Málaga province. He is understood to have used a car wash he owned as a cover for the operation, and used proceeds from drug sales to buy the weapons.

Police surveillance of the suspect led officers to discover the imminent arrival in Málaga of a 2-ton shipment of cannabis from Morocco. Officers waiting at the scene seized the drug and arrested 15 suspects. A burglary gang who had bought some of the weapons were arrested in Alicante province.

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