Dismantled in Alicante a clandestine workshop for illegal weapons

The Civil Guard has dismantled a clandestine illegal weapons workshop in Alicante. The “Cañonero” operation has resulted in the arrest of three men for illegally manufacturing firearms and their essential components, completely handmade and functional.  

The four searches have taken place in the Alicante towns of Crevillente, Hondón de las Nieves and Pinoso, in which the Civil Guard has found 79 firearms -both short and long-, 2,586 metal cartridges -among which ammunition has been located of war -, four silencers and a crossbow. 

The investigation began a few months ago, when the Civil Guard had indications of the possible artisanal and illegal manufacture of firearms in the town of Hondón de las Nieves, in the province of Alicante. Once the inquiries began, the agents located the person in charge of this homemade “factory”. 

Taking advantage of his knowledge as a turner, and who also had the necessary industrial machinery to carry out these tasks, he manufactured complete handcrafted firearms, as well as their fundamental parts. Also, he manipulated firearms that had been officially rendered useless for their rehabilitation, putting them back into operation and ready to shoot.

Civil guards from the Alicante Information Group and UCE3 from the Information Headquarters managed to identify two others involved, in the Alicante towns of Crevillente and Pinoso. Between the three of them, they hid the arsenal of weapons, their parts and ammunition in different properties located in different towns of the province. The detainees are three men between the ages of 43 and 65. They are charged with the crimes of manufacturing weapons and their essential parts, illegal possession of weapons, trafficking in firearms and ammunition storage. 

They have been made available to the Investigating Court number 3 of Novelda. The seized weapons have been sent to the Crime Laboratory in Valencia for analysis, in order to verify if they are related to any other crime. The detainees are linked to the “Botxo” operation, carried out in 2020, in which the Civil Guard dismantled an illegal arms trafficking network, culminating in the arrest of six people and the investigation of another three and in the that 60 illegal firearms were seized.