The Civil Guard, in coordination with Europol, has struck a blow to an international network that produces weapons of war, mainly using 3D printing technology, and intended for sale to criminal organizations in countries in Europe and America. Operation Carmelo, carried out in eight European and American countries, resulted in the arrest of 14 prisoners, the confiscation of 80 weapons and the closure of 14 clandestine workshops.
In Spain, six people were arrested and three workshops were closed in Madrid, Jaén and León. Also confiscated were 42 firearms, more than 32,000 cartridges, 29 silencers, 18 kilos of explosives and numerous tools, machines and components essential for the production of weapons.
The dismantled workshop in the province of Madrid manufactured firearms using 3D printing technology. An FGC-9 submachine gun was found there, one of the deadliest weapons developed in the world using 3D technology as it can fire automatically like a small machine gun.
In an operation against the arms trade, effects intervened, including a 3D printer that was used to produce components. Civil Guard
Two secret workshops were found in Jaén province, equipped with heavy industrial machinery (such as lathes, milling machines or hydraulic presses) and storing 28 firearms, including several assault rifles classified as weapons of war. In addition, 23,350 metal cartridges, 29 silencers and 17 kilos of explosives were confiscated.
The operation began earlier this year when arms trafficking specialists at the Guardia Civil Information Center managed to identify several people living in Spain who purchased tools for making weapons. They were not licensed to possess firearms and had previous convictions for offenses related to the possession and trafficking of firearms. The Civil Guard established contacts with police officers from other countries such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, where there were suspicions that secret workshops might exist.
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Outside Spanish borders, in Germany, four illegal workshops were broken up, two of which produced 3D printed firearms, and in Sweden a person was also arrested for turning firearms into real weapons. In the United Kingdom, three people suspected of using 3D printing to create firearms were arrested, and large quantities of ammunition, explosives, gunpowder and even a military-grade grenade launcher were seized. Another illegal workshop producing 3D firearms was also broken up in Canada.
The operation was developed by the Civil Guard Information Headquarters together with EUROPOL and the police authorities of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada. The information groups of the Madrid, Jaén and León commands, the Cynological Service (gun detection dogs), GEDEX of Granada and León and other units also took part.