Agents of Spain’s national police force raided the Madrid offices of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as part of an investigation into money laundering and tax fraud by Chinese gangs.
The Guardia Civil action, dubbed Operation Shadow and involving 100 law-enforcement officers, follows a wide-ranging police raid in May last year known as Operation Snake in which 60 businesses and houses were searched in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. More than €1m in cash was seized and 31 people detained as part of a contraband ring that imported untaxed goods to be sold at artificially low prices in Spain.
The Guardia Civil initially estimated that the group involved in Operation Snake had committed import tax fraud worth €14m and helped launder €300m.