Within the framework of the so-called operation TERMINALES, the Civil Guard has dismantled a criminal group, with branches abroad, dedicated to supplying firearms and ammunition to drug trafficking organizations based in the Canary Islands.
The investigation began in October 2025 after a shipment of firearms and ammunition was intercepted at the Vigo airport (Pontevedra) that, meticulously concealed, a person was trying to transport by air to the Canary Islands; proceeding to the arrest of this individual.
The investigations carried out by the arms trafficking investigators of the Information Service of the Civil Guard made it possible to establish that several of them were illegally manufactured pistols, assembled abroad with essential components from different origins and which are known as “ghost weapons”, since lacking serial numbers and identifying markings they cannot be traced.
The investigation also determined that the first detainee was a “mulero” who, in exchange for money, had been hired by another person to transport the weapons, being able to identify the person who had hired him, who was arrested in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the following days.
As a result of the analysis of the documentation seized from these first two detainees, as well as the result of the efforts and exchanges of information on weapons carried out with Europol, Italy, France and Portugal; It was determined that they were part of a larger organized group that was dedicated to introducing shipments of firearms from the peninsula destined for drug trafficking organizations that operate in the Canary Islands, for which they previously provided said weapons and ammunition abroad and communicated with each other using encrypted communications applications.
After an investigation of several months, and after managing to identify and locate the leaders of said criminal group, at the end of last October, two more people were arrested in Fuerteventura and La Gomera, considering said organized group dismantled.
Throughout the investigation, 4 people have been arrested, all of them residing in the Canary Islands, aged 35, 42, 45 and 46 respectively and with criminal records, and another 2 have been investigated, as well as 6 entries and searches, during which the following weapons and effects have been seized:
8 short weapons (7 pistols and 1 revolver)
1 rifle
1 silencer
500 metal cartridges of different calibers for short weapons
15,000 euros in cash
1 kg. of cocaine
Different tools for the adulteration and distribution of narcotics.
A vehicle equipped with a sophisticated double bottom (known in slang as a cove) for the transport of weapons and narcotics.
Documentation and electronic devices for analysis.
The detainees are charged with the crimes of integration into a criminal group, illicit trafficking and storage of weapons and ammunition, and crimes against public health (drug trafficking).
This operation is part of the Comprehensive Plan for the Control of Firearms (PICAF) of the Civil Guard, which is the Corps that at the national level is entrusted with jurisdiction over the control of weapons and explosives, which is why its investigation units have been making a constant effort to detect and neutralize the channels of illegal supply of weapons that are emerging.
The investigation has been directed by the Investigation Section of the Court of Instance of Vigo (Pontevedra), Plaza 4., which determined the prison for one of them.
