Scope of the Operation and Dismantling of a Criminal Network
A civil guard operation culminated in the arrest of sixteen individuals and the seizure of five other alleged members of a criminal organization involved in large-scale thefts across multiple provinces. The authorities recovered approximately 58 tons of copper cable and assorted metals in Alicante, Badajoz, Cáceres, Cantabria, Ávila, Albacete, and Valencia, illustrating a coordinated, cross-regional illicit trade pipeline.
The gang’s illicit activity included the trafficking and laundering of stolen metal through a network of illegal junkyards and front businesses. In one notable instance, a 19-kilometer-long cable parcel was laundered by selling it to a scrapyard, then reintroduced into the market via forged invoices that leveraged the deceased’s financial data to present a veneer of legitimacy for the operation. The Civil Guard reported the recovery of around 12 tons of copper found in various locations connected to the thefts, underscoring the scale of the illicit supply chain.
Dramatic seizures accompanied the arrests: five vans were intercepted, including a vehicle stolen in Valencia, along with narcotics, bicycles, household goods, and vehicles prepared for sale under covert conditions. The operation revealed 36 pounds of marijuana, twenty demountable bicycles in bundles, three microwave ovens, 195 clothing items from a well-known brand, and five motor vehicles packaged for sale in vacuum-sealed bags, highlighting the breadth of stolen property involved.
Initial investigations traced the criminal activity back to early this year when the Civil Guard learned that valuable copper cable labeled as Millberry had been removed from two wastewater treatment plants in Cebreros and El Tiemblo in Ávila. Further inquiries confirmed additional thefts at the Candeleda and Piedraaves treatment facilities, prompting a focused search for sale points and a meticulous audit of scrap yards and metal waste centers to ensure proper recycling and lawful handling of the metals involved.
Law enforcement also identified a vehicle used to commit the robberies at the Cebreros wastewater facility and traced it to a resident in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Madrid. This individual maintained regular contact with a group of ten associates whose lifestyle appeared disproportionate to their declared earnings, suggesting illicit sources of income and a pattern of spending beyond their legitimate means.
The investigation uncovered a pattern of weekly trips through the provinces of Badajoz, Cáceres, Cantabria, Ávila, Madrid, Albacete, Toledo, Alicante, and Valencia. The goal of these excursions was to extract copper cable from other wastewater treatment plants, agri-food companies, and industrial estates, further evidencing a structured distribution and extraction operation behind the thefts.
Footage and material recovered from the operation included equipment illicitly used at multiple sites. The recovered items and tools were traced back to stolen property linked to robberies of transport trucks at service stations along the Andalusian highway and to an industrial storage facility in Jaén. The investigation also established links to drug trafficking activities, with the detainees facing charges that include robberies executed with force, the formation of illegal associations, theft and vehicle operation, document forgery, crimes against public health, and related offenses associated with the illicit handling and disposal of stolen goods.
The operation involved the seizure of additional copper cables and seized bicycles and clothing that were traced to earlier thefts. The authorities noted that the suspects had adopted a range of security measures to evade law enforcement detection, including moving stolen cables, avoiding routine checks, and arranging multiple pickup vehicles to collect the material based on the quantity available at any given time. Intervening officers managed to dismantle several components of the network by targeting the supply chain, the front businesses, and the illegal disposal sites used to launder the stolen copper into legitimate commerce. The case remains under ongoing review by the Civil Guard with continued documentation of the network’s operations and financial irregularities. [Civil Guard Investigation – Attribution]