War rifles and grenades: the rise of narco weaponry in Spain
The head of the Central Drug Squad alerts to the massive use of war weapons by organised crime. Record seizures include AK-47s, grenades and even an underground shooting range.
War-grade weapons become a common tool of organised crime in Spain
A golden assault rifle and a pistol bearing the Louis Vuitton logo rest in the forensic laboratory of Spain's National Police complex in Canillas. They are evidence of a trend increasingly concerning security forces: the widespread use of war-grade weapons by organised crime in Spain.
According to elmundo.es, Alberto Morales, head of the Central Drug Squad (UDYCO Central) and known among his agents as "El Patrón", describes it bluntly: "The situation with the use of war rifles has gone crazy. It is already an excessive thing."
Record seizures between 2025 and 2026
Between January 2025 and the time of publication, seizures by the State Security Forces and Bodies (FCSE) paint an unprecedented escalation. The Civil Guard seized an arsenal that included 25 assault rifles, an MG-42 machine gun, a pistol, 126 hand grenades and more than 25 kilograms of ammunition, in a multinational operation alongside police from France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and Slovenia, with the collaboration of Europol and Eurojust. The main Spanish suspect in that operation was residing in Burgos.
In March 2026, during the dismantling of a drug den with 1,056 kilogrammes of cocaine, officers confronted criminals armed with an AK-47, an AR-15 assault rifle and a UZI-type submachine gun. Almost simultaneously, another operation resulted in the seizure of 19 war weapons of 7.62 calibre, all hidden in a single vehicle.
In April 2026, the Civil Guard captured 3,370 kilogrammes of hashish guarded by drug traffickers equipped with four silenced Skorpion submachine guns and two AK-47 assault rifles. The Mossos d'Esquadra, for their part, found in May 2026 twelve AK-74 rifles—an evolution of the classic Kalashnikov—inside a luxury SUV intercepted on the AP-7 motorway.
Market prices and entry routes
From Civil Guard offices, the cost of these weapons on the black market is calculated at: a pistol ranges between 6,000 and 7,000 euros; an assault rifle, between 10,000 and 11,000 euros. Commissioner Morales explains that weapons reach Spain through the same routes as cocaine or hashish: land, sea and air.
The Benemérita even discovered an illegal underground shooting range, used to test weapons before acquiring them from traffickers.
Wounded officers and updated protocols
Violence is no longer merely a deterrent. In November 2025, three officers were injured during an operation: the first received two impacts from a long-barrel weapon and was seriously wounded; the second was struck by a shot that was stopped by his ballistic vest, though he suffered two broken ribs; the third was injured in an arm whilst attempting to shield himself from gunfire. In January 2026, in Andalusia, the suspected perpetrators of the attack were arrested, identified as "el Pajarito" and "el Moreno". According to investigations, they shouted whilst firing: "We have to kill those dogs."
Faced with this reality, security forces have modified their procedures. "Given the increased use of war-grade weapons by criminals, we have updated our operational protocols. These days we already go to operations with long-barrel weapons," Morales states.
The disturbing rise of hand grenades
What most intrigues investigators is the proliferation of hand grenades. In May 2026, a search of a storage unit that criminals planned to use as a warehouse found four grenades capable of reaching targets within a radius of up to 54 metres, actionable in just three seconds even in adverse conditions—snow, mud, water and extreme temperatures. According to police reports, they are "designed to cause the maximum number of casualties in enclosed spaces or areas with concentrations of people", with a core of 3,000 steel balls.
Young hitmen recruited via Telegram
The profile of those using these weapons has changed. Morales describes young people without scruples and with no military experience, recruited as hitmen through Telegram chat groups. "Security personnel can earn between 5,000 and 20,000 euros per operation," the commissioner indicates, whilst showing examples on his mobile phone.
The National Police and the Mossos d'Esquadra confirm moreover a new phenomenon: the direct exchange of drugs for firearms. Whereas previously weapons were considered mainly a deterrent element to protect shipments, now their offensive use has become standard practice among criminal groups.
The National Security Report, presented in May, records the same diagnosis: in customs operations, especially in ports, a significant increase in the detection of war weapons has been recorded.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)