Spain’s Paramilitary Drug War: Insider Claims Point to a Battle for Control

Spain is becoming a war zone. In rural Toledo and the marshlands of Seville, heavily armed police units now move like a paramilitary force, conducting raids that end in explosions of gunfire. Officially, these are counter-narcotics operations against foreign criminal organizations. Unofficially, according to one Dominican source with long-standing ties to trafficking networks in Spain and the Caribbean, they may be part of a deeper struggle for control of alijos: the large drug shipments that cross the Iberian Peninsula.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, alleges that certain police factions are competing with foreign traffickers for access to seized or hidden loads. “It’s not just about arrests anymore,” the source said. “It’s about who keeps the merchandise,” and there have been two deadly shootings involving police just this past week.

These claims emerge amid a broader pattern of militarised policing and mounting corruption scandals. The 2024 arrest of former Madrid top cop Óscar Sánchez Gil, currently under investigation for drug trafficking, money-laundering, and bribery, exposed how deeply criminal finance may have infiltrated law-enforcement structures. That case, confirmed by Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, added weight to rumours long whispered within Spain’s underworld:  parts of the state have begun playing both sides of the game.

At the same time, El País and other national outlets have documented the growing phenomenon of traffickers impersonating police officers during “vuelcos;” violent heists in which gangs rob rival dealers of their stashes. This tactic has blurred the line between state authority and criminal aggression, creating an atmosphere where even seasoned traffickers hesitate to distinguish real operations from false ones.

With the collapse of several crypto-laundering networks that once financed the trade, Spain’s drug economy has reverted to raw territorial competition. The result, according to investigators and underworld sources alike, is a chaotic battlefield: paramilitary police on one side, fragmented trafficking networks on the other, and migrant communities caught in the middle.

The conflict is no longer strictly domestic. The recent arrests of alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organisation with roots in Latin America’s prison system, have injected new instability into an already volatile landscape.

A Dominican source familiar with the underworld describes the current situation as “a three-way war” between foreign traffickers, entrenched local figures, and aggressive police units operating with paramilitary tactics. According to this source, groups like Tren de Aragua have disrupted long-standing informal arrangements that once allowed limited coexistence between rival networks and corrupt officials. Their arrival, the source says, “broke the balance.”

Spain's fight against demographic decline by allowing in over a million Latin American immigrants in the past couple of years means that a once peaceful and stable country now risks becoming as dangerous as any Central American nation. It doesn't necessitate reaching out to experts to confirm if deadly shootouts involving the police will become more numerous in the coming weeks and months.