The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard have intercepted 25 tons of almonds with “very dangerous” toxins in an operation that has concluded with the arrest of four people for alleged crimes of documentary falsification and against public health.
Of these, three are citizens of Spain and one is from the Netherlands. The operation, baptized as ‘nuts’, began last January after 25 tonnes of almonds arrived in Spain from Australia.
The importation of the product appears to comply with the regulations, but, once it arrived in the province of Alicante, the Department of Foreign Health of the Delegation of the Government of Alicante analyzed said fruit. The result concluded that it contained “extremely high levels” of aflatoxins, ie, fungi that are “very toxic and harmful” for human consumption.
At that point the agency informed the importer of the almonds that they would have to be destroyed. This man living in Mallorca took the initiative to do so and requested authorization from health to transfer the cargo to Mallorca and destroy it in an incinerator.
However, once the almonds reached the town of Binisalem, those responsible for transporting the cargo for destruction broke the sanitary seal of the container where they were transported and deposited the nuts in an industrial warehouse. They then proceeded to change the type and size of the containers and moved the almonds to Alicante as they were being investigated by the authorities.
At the same time, instead of destroying the almonds, they replaced the trade with other almond shells containing similar quantities. Thus he obtained the destruction certificates of all 25 tonnes of almonds with toxic substances from the certifying company. In this way, with material and documentary falsification, they tried to divert for consumption a product which is highly injurious to health.
However, investigators from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard proceeded to freeze the goods in Alicante before the almonds were marketed and arrested the four men responsible for the import, transport and destruction of the almonds. took.
