Spanish tax agents seize 53 tonnes of illegal refrigerant

SPAIN: A total of 53 tonnes of illegal refrigerant and nearly €1m in cash have been seized in two operations by the Spanish tax and customs authorities.

In the first operation, 41,000kg of refrigerant and €850,000 in cash were seized in Castellón at the home of the suspect and at the headquarters of his two companies. The tax fraud was estimated at €1m.

Spain’s has imposed an indirect tax on the manufacture, import, or intra-community acquisition of HFCs. since 2014 as part of its mission to reduce emissions.

In the second operation, three arrests were made and 12,000kg of refrigerant and €18,000 in cash were seized in Alicante after tracking a truck coming from France.

In the first operation, dubbed Operation Balloons, customs and tax officers seized three shipping containers, each carrying 1,150 12kg cylinders of R134a. 

Said to be the second largest seizure of its type so far in Spain, the refrigerant gases were intended to be introduced into the market without having paid the legally required taxes, thus gaining a competitive advantage over other legal operators. 

The tax agency began conducting an investigation into the three containers in June, which left the port of Barcelona and were declared destined for Seville, but never arrived there, as they were diverted en route to the municipality of Almassora, in Castellón.

Once there, investigators confirmed a violation of customs transit regulations. This was further confirmed when it was discovered that the organisation had informed customs that the merchandise was already in Seville, a destination it never reached.

Within an hour of each other, the other two containers arrived at the same address.

The alleged perpetrator and mastermind of the imports used several companies with their registered offices and headquarters in the municipality of Algeciras.

Searches carried out on October 2 resulted in the seizure of a large amount of documentation. In addition, more than €724,000 was seized at the suspect’s private residence and just over €126,000 was seized at the addresses of the companies under investigation.

The second operation, acting on information received from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), took place on October 17.  Customs and tax authorities located and tracked a truck as it entered Spain through La Junquera and continued to the province of Alicante. A total of 12,000 kilos of gases, valued at approximately €413,000, were subsequently seized

In this case, the perpetrators had declared the container carrying the gases as exported from the French port of Calais to Kenya. Since the export did not take place and the goods were unloaded on the Alicante ship, a crime of smuggling occurred.

With the investigation remaining open, the possible existence of a criminal organisation dedicated to smuggling fluorinated gases in the south of the province of Alicante, comprising both Ukrainian and Spanish citizens, has not been ruled out.