A Guardia Civil officer, who worked for their anti-drug unit in Cádiz, took a leave of absence (unpaid leave) to dedicate himself to the bakery business in Granada.
Nothing special? He did this alongside family members, starting with a small establishment in a town on the city’s metropolitan outskirts and eventually acquiring a chain of bakeries.
When it closed its doors in 2020, the firm had fifteen shops (eight owned and seven franchised) in the city of Granada and other municipalities in the province, employing 42 workers.
However, one thing led to another until it was judicially intervened, this was because the cash flow in and out of the company in question was highly conspicuous.
To disguise his dealings, he applied for several bank loans and claimed to have won a prize of 30,000 euros in the ONCE Cuponazo and another 150,000 euros in the National Lottery...
This hadn’t gone unnoticed by police forces, incluiding the Guardia Civil itself. The police had been working steadily to track down members of the Guardia Civil thought to be connected with drug running.
His movements as an officer were also suspicious: He had begun to hold meetings during is the periods that he was off duty with drug traffickers from the Campo de Gibraltar and he was even traced to visit to Morocco.
His things went pear shape for him in early 2019. A GPS tracking device placed on his patrol car was instrumental to his arrest, which occurred after he picked up a package at a premises located on a beach in Cádiz. Shortly after, his colleagues pulled him over and found 65,730 euros in the trunk. Oops!
By 2024, he appeared in the dock at the Provincial Court of Cádiz and admitted to laundering more than 764,000 euros originating from the illegal drug running. The sentence: two years in prison and a fine equal to the amount of laundered money he had laundered.
Amazingly (and these court decisions never fail to amaze) His admission to prison was suspended for a period of three years, conditional on his not reoffending.
However, the Minister of Defense (under whom the Guardia Civil used to come as they are a paramilitary unit), decided following the court sentence in 2025, to expel the officer from the Guardia Civil ranks for a very serious offence: committing an intentional crime resulting in a final conviction that causes serious damage to the administration and the members of the public.
However, not happy with the Government’s decision, the officer filed an appeal before the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court, an initiative that did not succeed (no amazement required). His defence lawyer had argued that he was on leave when the events occurred, which, in his client’s view, implied that the codes of conduct governing the Guardia Civil could not be applied to him.
The judges have now confirmed his permanent dismissal from service, meaning the defendant will never wear the uniform again. (Hooray!)
Editorial comment: they should have put him up against a wall and shot him with a wet kipper after inserting jalapeños in his nostrils.
(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)
Keywords: Guardia Caught Drug Running, Military Court, Suspended, Expelled, Fined, Jail Sentence
news, andalucia, granada, city & metropolitan area, keywords: guardia caught drug running, military court, suspended, expelled, fined, jail sentence