27 members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang arrested in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Tarragona, and Guardamar

In Guardamar del Segura, Madrid, Barcelona, and Tarragona, the National Police have apprehended 27 putative members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) gang. The Salvadoran criminal organisation intends to broaden its influence in Spain through violent means. The individuals apprehended were members of numerous cliques or factions that were organised under the leadership of the “Adams Clique” and were supervised by the Americas. The U.S. has classified this Latin American gang as a terrorist organisation. Drug trafficking sustained the gang, and the police have linked some of the arrested individuals to attempted and completed homicides.

The province of Alicante has apprehended a single individual, while Madrid, Barcelona, and Tarragona have each seen 18 arrests. The police have accused them of homicide, bodily harm, robbery with violence, and offences against public health, as well as belonging to a criminal organisation.

This is the Mara Salvatrucha gang’s second significant setback in Spain. The 37 defendants from the Mara Salvatrucha gang, which was based in Ibi, Girona, Madrid, and Barcelona, were sentenced to a total of 89 years and six months in prison by the Alicante Court in 2018.

The investigation commenced with the detection of individuals associated with the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang in Spain by agents from the National Police’s General Information Commissariat, which was made possible by international collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In collaboration with the National Civil Police of El Salvador and the aforementioned US law enforcement agencies, the police were able to identify all members of this organisation, which is predominantly located in the cities of Madrid and Barcelona.

Drug Financing Investigators have determined that this criminal organisation maintained a hierarchical structure with clearly defined roles. The primary source of funding for this MS13 “program” that was dismantled by the police was narcotic trafficking, and its objective was to acquire firearms. Previous investigations have implicated its members in attempted assassinations and completed homicides.

The exploitation phase commenced on March 27, following the identification of the members of this group. Consequently, authorities apprehended 27 individuals and searched six residences.

The General Intelligence Commission, the Provincial Intelligence Brigades of Barcelona, Alicante, Tarragona, and Madrid, the FBI, representatives of the National Civil Police of El Salvador, and the Barcelona Urban Guard were all involved in the operation, which was overseen by the Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and Organised Crime and led by Madrid’s Investigative Court No. 3.

During the searches, the officers confiscated symbols, knives, simulated firearms, narcotics, items for sale, and mobile phones.

They convened a court to hear the detainees. Seven of them were incarcerated, while two others were still in custody. They were arrested in distinct penitentiaries and held in pretrial detention for actions related to the organisation’s activities. The Torrevieja duty court heard the case of the individual apprehended in Guardamar, who did not reside in the municipality.

The U.S. State Department declared Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) a foreign terrorist organisation in February of last year, taking the same course of action as El Salvador in August 2015.