Within the framework of the so-called Terminales operation, the Guardia Civil **has dismantled a criminal group**, with ramifications abroad, dedicated to **supplying firearms and ammunition to drug trafficking organizations established in the Canary Islands**.
The investigation began in October 2025 **after a shipment of firearms and ammunition was intercepted at Vigo airport (Pontevedra)** which, meticulously disguised, a person was trying to transport by air to the Canary Islands; leading to the arrest of this individual.
The inquiries carried out by arms trafficking investigators from the Guardia Civil's Information Service, made it possible to establish that several of them were **illegally manufactured pistols**, assembled abroad with essential components from different origins and known as "ghost guns" because, lacking serial numbers and identifying markings, they cannot be traced.
The investigation also determined that **the first detainee was a "mule"** who, in exchange for money, had been hired by another person to transport the weapons, and the person who had hired him was identified and 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 results of investigations and information exchanges on weapons carried out with Europol, Italy, France, and Portugal; it was possible to determine 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 operating in the Canary Islands, for which they previously **procured said weapons and ammunition abroad and communicated with each other using encrypted communication 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**, thus dismantling said organized group.
Throughout the investigation, four people have been arrested, all residing in the Canary Islands, aged 35, 42, 45, and 46 respectively, and with criminal records, and two more are under investigation, as well as six searches and seizures, during which the following weapons and effects have been seized: 8 handguns (7 pistols and 1 revolver), a rifle, a silencer, 500 metallic cartridges of different handgun calibers, 15,000 euros in cash, 1 kg of cocaine, various tools for the adulteration and distribution of narcotics, a vehicle equipped with a sophisticated double bottom (known in slang as a "caleta") for the transport of weapons and narcotics, and documentation and electronic devices for analysis.
The detainees are charged with the crimes of belonging to a criminal group, illicit trafficking and possession of weapons and ammunition, and a crime against public health (drug trafficking).
This operation is part of the Guardia Civil's Comprehensive Plan for the Control of Firearms (PICAF), as the Corps responsible nationally for the control of weapons and explosives, which is why its investigation units are constantly working to detect and neutralize emerging illegal arms supply channels.
The investigation was directed by the Instruction Section of the Court of Instance of Vigo (Pontevedra), Plaza 4, which ordered the imprisonment of one of them.
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