Marcos IP and Raúl FD, businessmen from the companies Ecovert (Ecología y Vertidos Bajo Cinca, SL) of Fraga and Waste Prevention of Tarrasa (Barcelona), respectively, were admitted to the Zuera prison last Thursday as alleged perpetrators of an environmental crime related to the illegal transport of waste from several companies in France to Zaragoza.
The arrests were made at two companies in Fraga and Barcelona as a result of a large-scale operation by the Civil Guard. Nearly 70 officers, including members of the Seprona's Central Operational Environmental Unit (Ucoma), Rural Security Groups (GRS), and the Citizen Security Unit (Useci) from Huesca, Lleida, and Barcelona, participated in the operation.
The investigation, initiated in March by the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and later transferred to the Civil Guard, remained secret until now. For nine months, wiretaps, surveillance of suspects and transport vehicles were carried out, even using drones on some occasions. The case file comprises approximately 2,000 pages.
The businessmen face charges of forgery, organized crime, and environmental crimes. They are accused of fraud in the handling of recycling or waste originating from France, which was then destroyed in Spain. The investigation focused on tracking Spanish trucks traveling to southern France and returning to Spain loaded with waste, the documentation for which was falsified to conceal its origin.
The waste was disposed of through the company Residuos Industriales de Zaragoza (Rinza). It is estimated that this illegal transport has been ongoing since at least 2020, and approximately 80% of the waste dumped in Zaragoza originated in southern France, according to investigations by the Civil Guard.
It is estimated that the savings for French companies by transporting the waste to Spain, instead of destroying it in their own country, would amount to 3 million euros, while in Spain the cost would be reduced to 700,000 euros. The profits obtained would be distributed between the two businessmen from Fraga and Barcelona.
The detainees, after giving their statements on Wednesday in the Fraga Court, were sent to provisional detention without bail by decision of the investigating judge Paula Goberna.
