The National Police have carried out a massive deployment of agents across three cities in the province of Alicante to dismantle an organisation accused of smuggling immigrants in boats from Algeria to Spain, drug trafficking, and potential arms trafficking. This major operation comes just a week after another significant crackdown in the province against a Chechen group accused of jihadist terrorism.
The ongoing operation, which reportedly has ramifications extending into the provinces of Murcia and Almería, has so far resulted in the arrest of approximately ten people across Alicante, Torrevieja and San Vicente del Raspeig.
The investigation is being spearheaded by agents from the Central Unit of Illegal Immigration Networks and Document Falsification (UCRIF) of the General Commissariat of Immigration and Borders, alongside the UCRIF of the Immigration and Borders Brigade of Alicante.
Due to the possibility that the suspects were armed and to prevent any violent response, investigators were supported by two elite units of the National Police for the initial operational phase. Officers from the Special Operations Group (GEO) and the Special Operational Security Group (GOES) carried out the initial entry operations during two raids in Torrevieja and Alicante.
A wide array of other police resources also participated, including agents from the Technical Intervention Operational Group (GOIT), Citizen Security, Canine Guides, and officers from the North and Central police stations of Alicante. Lawyers from the Administration of Justice (LAJ) were also present to draw up official records of the entries, searches, and seized materials.
Simultaneous raids began at eight o’clock in the morning, with the National Police executing more than six searches across the province of Alicante, including three within the city of Alicante itself. On the central Calle Alemania in Alicante, police stormed a property after breaking down the front door. The search concluded two hours later, with officers removing small, sealed boxes containing seized material.
Despite breaking down two locked bedroom doors inside the Calle Alemania property, the two tenants who were asleep inside were not arrested. One of them, a Pakistani man named Ahmed, stated he has lived in Spain for over 25 years and has never been arrested or done anything wrong. Ahmed, who runs a clothing store on Bailén Street, said police questioned him about drugs and weapons.
Ahmed, who expressed a desire to file a complaint for injuries suffered when he was subdued by police at the start of the search, questioned the basis of the raid. Police seized 800 euro from him, which he claims was intended for buying merchandise for his business. When he later went to the police station with the owner of the house to seek explanations, the property owner ended up being arrested.
