Arms Deals
The High Court is investigating 23 years’ worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia during which
executives at a state-owned company allegedly paid millions in bribes to secure contracts.
Judge José de la Mata is examining five transactions made from 1992 to 2004 between Riyadh and
a company named Defex, as well as 11 other contracts signed more recently.
The company is 51% owned by the Spanish state while the other 49% is in the hands of private
businesses whose main activity is arms sales.
Defex has been under investigation since 2014, when a suspicious transaction emerged involving
the sale of police equipment to Angola through heavily padded invoices.
The company is currently in liquidation, and its three top officials are under investigation for
keeping up “a systematic criminal behavior pattern” for over two decades, according to the judge.
Cocaine
Police have recovered more than 6,000 kilos of cocaine in a massive drugs bust in Malaga.
It is believed to be the second largest stash found in Europe, with a street value of €360million and
was hidden in amongst a shipment of bananas.
National Police and Guardia Civil officers raided a warehouse on the Santa Teresa industrial estate
in the city with a huge presence while closing surrounding streets.
Around a dozen people were detained on the premises.
Terrorism
Two Syrian men were arrested yesterday in Valencia and Alicante for allegedly working with
terrorist organizations in Spain.
It is claimed the pair were spreading their ideals via social networks.
The arrested men face charges for the alleged crimes of integrating into, and collaborating with, a
terrorist organization.
The men also face charges for the alleged indoctrination and glorification of terrorism.
National Police claim in a statement that both men were in contact with Daesh and Al Qaeda:
The social media networks of the alleged terrorist recruiters reportedly contained content inciting
violence and were followed by hundreds.
Migration
The U.N. migration agency says that so far this year Spain has received more migrants via the
Mediterranean than it did in the previous three years combined.
The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration reported yesterday that 45,145 men,
women and children entered Spain through the western Mediterranean route.
That was almost half of the more than 94,000 migrants who have this year entered Europe by sea
from North Africa and came amid a migrant crackdown by countries in the eastern Mediterranean.
