Weapons of war sent by NATO to Ukraine may be being sold to Spanish mafias on the black market, it has emerged.
Recent raids in Almeria have revealed the scale of the problem after the Policia Nacional seized a war chest of Skorpion VZ-61 submachine guns – capable of firing 850 rounds a minute.
They also found Smith & Wesson rifles, Czech CSA submachine guns, semi-automatic shotguns, Blow and Glock pistols, GPS trackers, jammers and microbeacon detectors.
In Operation Olea, carried out in El Puche and on a farm in El Acebuche, officers dismantled a clan dedicated to storing and moving drugs.
Five arrests were made, and the haul was staggering: more than two tonnes of hashish, 740 kilos of marijuana – worth around €5 million on the street – and enough weaponry and ammunition to classify their depot as a ‘war arsenal,’ a crime carrying up to 14 years in prison.
For decades, the go-to gun for traffickers was the AK-47, widely available after the Balkan wars.
Weapons like these were seized in Operations Uleyla and Mar 21 back in 2022, which netted 26 members of a smuggling clan in eastern Almeria.
But the firepower has changed. Today’s seizures suggest traffickers have leapfrogged into an arsenal rivaling that of small states.
The progression is not just in volume but in sophistication, often coming with military-grade kit designed to detect, jam and outpace the police as they move and protect their cargo.
A NATO link?
Police sources confirmed to Diario de Almeria that at least some of the 20 firearms recovered in Almeria ‘match the makes and models’ of equipment sent by NATO countries – including Spain itself – to the Ukrainian front.
If confirmed, it would mean weapons intended for Zelensky’s forces to defend against Russian aggression have been diverted into the black market, feeding the arsenals of international mafias in southern Europe.
The probe, led by UDYCO’s Group II in Almeria with support from central units and GRECO Costa del Sol, is examining whether the guns entered Spain by road from Eastern Europe or through southern ports concealed in containers.
This would not be the first time Spanish security forces have faced mafias wielding NATO-grade weaponry.
But investigators say the volume and danger of the arsenal seized in Almeria is unprecedented – and are warning what could follow.
When the Balkan wars ended in the 1990s, Europe saw a flood of military weapons pouring into the hands of organised crime. Now, officers fear history could repeat itself once the war in Ukraine winds down, but this time on an even greater scale.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
