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More than 400 criminal organisations in Spain ■ MIREILLE TODDINGTON mireille@costablancapeople.com
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PAIN’S NATIONAL POLICE and Civil Guard have identified 440 organised crime groups operating in the country, part of a network of some 3,600 at work throughout the European Union. At least 10 of these are classified
as “high intensity”: that is, they have been operating for more than three years; they have at least 20 members (the average is from 11 to 20 individuals); they have one main area of activity, but also work in other related areas; and they are multinational, sometimes contracting out services to other gangs. Typically, these criminals will have created legitimate front companies through which to launder their ill-gotten gains. Last week, Spanish police arrested a businessman on the island of Mallorca: he had a construction company and a business managing slot machines. He was married and his children went to private schools. For the last three years he had been smuggling some 150 kilograms of
cocaine onto the Balearic island each year, subcontracting distribution to local Gypsy families. In total, seven people were arrested. “These types of arrangements normally last around three years and tend to operate in big cities or tourist destinations, where their activities do not stand out,” say police, adding that these gangs work in networks often set up in prison. The majority of criminal gangs operating in Spain are dealing in drugs, say police: “Colombians, cocaine, Moroccans, hashish, and the Turks, heroin,” says one officer. Fraud is another activity, along with money laundering, followed by people trafficking, prostitution,
burglary and theft of luxury cars. Again, some nationalities specialise in certain activities: “Colombians: drugs and jewelry; Russians and Georgians, burglary and luxury cars, along with money laundering; the Chinese, prostitution and people trafficking; Pakistanis and Syrians, falsification of documents; Bulgarians, weapons…” says the same source. Since 2014, when Spain set up CITCO, the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime, some 250 connections have been made linking organised crime and terrorism. Structures are changing: there are no more leaders, there are cells, flexible groups that assign people particular responsibilities and that are active in
different markets so as to keep their options open,” says a police source. Spain’s police say that the first criminal groups to operate in Spain were offshoots of the Italian mafia, which moved here in the 1970s as Spain’s economy began opening up. Since then, Italy’s four main mafias, the Continued on page 10
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