The National Police have arrested five people, four in the Community of Madrid and one in Valencia, for allegedly participating in the smuggling of an anti-drone system valued at two million euros to Libya, a country subject to a strict international embargo.
Those arrested in Madrid are the directors of a technology company dedicated to the supply of Defense material and the fifth is a Libyan responsible for the paramilitary organization RADA-SDF, the General Directorate of the Police has reported. Two of them have been placed in provisional prison after being placed at the disposal of the Central Investigative Court number 3 of the National Court, which has directed the operation.
The investigation began in 2020, when the agents became aware of the presence in Spain of the Libyan citizen, involved in transactions of drones with thermal cameras sent to Libya for the use of this paramilitary organization. In this way he was violating the international embargo imposed on the North African country, which is in conflict, and committing a crime of prohibited gender smuggling.
In a later phase of the so-called Operation Costrada, investigators verified the participation of other directors of a company supplying dual-use defense material. They allegedly participated in the sale and subsequent illegal export of an anti-drone system valued at two million euros destined for the airport in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, controlled by the RADA-SDF militia.
Agents from the General Information Commissariat and the Provincial Brigade of Valencia simultaneously detained the alleged smugglers last Thursday morning, four in a town in Madrid and another at the airport in the Valencian capital. Numerous digital documentation and technological material related to the investigation, coordinated by the Prosecutor's Office of the National Court, were also involved.
The agents of the General Information Commissariat of the National Police carry out investigative work on counterproliferation, as well as the prosecution of rights violations against the international community.
