The Civil Guard has arrested eleven people in Seville and Cádiz accused of laundering drug trafficking money through nightlife venues, music festivals, and real estate businesses. €1.8 million in cash has been seized, along with accounts and properties worth over two million.
The Civil Guard has dismantled one of the most complex financial networks based in Western Andalusia. The operation, dubbed 'Trajano 23 Sorela', has resulted in eleven arrests and a twelfth person under investigation, all accused of creating a corporate structure to introduce the profits from international drug trafficking into the legal circuit.
The investigation, which lasted nearly a year, began in August 2025 following intelligence analysis on a high-value drug trafficking target. The Urban and Economic Crime Team (EDUE) and the Organised Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) from Seville participated, under the direction of the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office and the Court Number 5 of El Puerto de Santa María.
The investigators have managed to decipher the functioning of a network specifically designed to erase the trail of money. The core of the operation was concentrated in commercial sectors with a high cash turnover, such as nightlife venues and restaurants located mainly in Seville and in the Cádiz town of El Puerto de Santa María.
The high volume of daily cash transactions in these businesses provided the ideal setting to camouflage illicit funds, according to sources from the investigation.
However, the organization's tentacles extended beyond conventional hospitality. The detainees actively participated in the organisation and promotion of significant music events with national impact, even owning shares in the company that runs a well-known music festival. They also diversified their operations into the real estate market, the tourism sector, and the buying and selling of high-end vehicles.
The exploitation phase of the operation involved a large-scale simultaneous police deployment in both provinces. Agents from elite units such as the GAR, GRS, and USECIC carried out 15 searches at homes and tax offices in the Seville towns of Dos Hermanas and Pilas, as well as in Cádiz and El Puerto de Santa María.
The financial blow has been significant. The Civil Guard seized €1,860,400 in cash, ten high-end watches, gold pieces, and valuable jewellery. Ten vehicles were also confiscated, six of which were luxury cars. The judiciary has ordered the preventive seizure of a dozen properties valued at over one million euros, as well as the blocking of nearly twenty bank accounts with a combined balance exceeding one million euros.
The eleven detainees face charges including money laundering, membership in a criminal organisation, bribery, abuse of power, misappropriation of public funds, revelation of secrets, insider trading, and influence peddling. The Judicial Authority has already ordered the provisional imprisonment of two of the main leaders of the network.
This operation represents a severe blow to the financial structures of drug trafficking in the province of Seville, where the presence of these networks has increased in recent years. Investigators do not rule out further arrests as the analysis of the seized documentation progresses.
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