Spain’s Secret Shooting Range
and the Stories Left to Tell
It was in an ideal spot and located deep enough to prevent the firing of the weapons from alerting local residents and security forces. The criminals had also placed mattresses around the area to absorb the noise.
Laura Velasco, “Sur in English”, 17 April 2025
I recently read an article in the publication “SUR in English”, the English-language newspaper for Southern Spain, entitled: Secret shooting range discovered in the south of Spain where a firearm-trafficking gang tested weapons of war
A joint operation by Spain’s National Police and Guardia Civil uncovered the country’s first illegal underground shooting gallery in Granada, used by a criminal gang to test and sell firearms. The discovery was part of Operation Topera-Tuti, targeting a dangerous arms trafficking network operating in Granada, Córdoba, and Jaén.
Key Points:
Shooting Gallery: Illegally built underground with basic tools to test weapons discreetly; soundproofed with mattresses to avoid detection.
Criminal Network: Trafficked war-grade weapons (e.g., assault rifles, submachine guns) to drug gangs for use in violent crimes.
Prices: Firearms were sold for €6,000–€11,000.
Arrests: Three individuals were detained on 20 February during raids in Loja, Moraleda de Zafayona, and Granada.
Seizures:
13 firearms including rifles, handguns, and a submachine gun.
Large amounts of ammunition and tactical gear.
Over €60,000 in cash and two marijuana grow operations.
Sales Strategy: Weapons were marketed via secure messaging apps with videos and sometimes in-person demonstrations at the shooting gallery.
The Spanish authorities have described this as a significant breakthrough against organized crime and illegal arms trafficking in Spain. I can understand why.
Why it’s a Big Deal Tactically
Tactically, the immediate short-term crime gun intelligence benefits that can be generated from the discovery of this secret shooting range and subsequent seizures and arrests are clear. Firearms hold and discharge data of tactical crime-solving intelligence value. They have manufacturers identifying information that can be used to trace the gun’s history of transactions. Moreover, they may hold latent fingerprints, DNA, and trace evidence. The fired ammunition components that a gun discharges, hold certain identifiable markings transferred to them as they come in contact with the internal working parts of the gun.
Technology tools exist to manage all of this data. The capacity to generate this tactical crime gun intelligence (CGI) can be found today at a country level, across cities, counties, and states/provinces, and at a global level across countries.
For example, as an INTERPOL member, Spain can access INTERPOL’s iARMS database to trace the acquisition and disposition history of the 13 firearms seized thus far in Operation Topera-Tuti. The transactional history can help to identify the people associated with the seized firearms. INTERPOL’s iARMS is a global tool law enforcement uses to record and trace illicit firearms, containing over 1.5 million records. It helps identify firearms trafficking patterns and smuggling routes to help law enforcement disrupt illicit international arms trafficking networks.
February Raids in Loja, Moraleda de Zafayona
Importantly, the Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional in Spain can test-fire the 13 firearms seized thus far in the raids in Loja, Moraleda de Zafayona, and Granada, and use their automated ballistic identification technology, the Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS®), to connect the test-fires to pieces of fired evidence collected from crime scenes across the region thereby generating potentially crime-solving clues.
Why it May be a Bigger Deal Strategically
The Beltway sniper attacks were a series of shootings that occurred over three weeks in October 2002, terrorizing the Washington, D.C., area. The assailants, John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, targeted victims at random, ultimately killing 10 people and injuring 3. Their actions caused widespread fear and disrupted daily life throughout the region.
The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) was used extensively during the DC Sniper investigation in an attempt to connect crimes and guns to suspects believed to be on the move. At one point, investigators received information that Muhammad and Malvo had been target shooting at a friend’s property in Tacoma, Washington before they set out for the D.C. area. The lead was pursued, and no useful CGI was found leading some to question the credibility of the original information. Had useful forensic intelligence been collected and processed through NIBIN, it could have connected the suspects to the DC killings earlier perhaps preventing further harm to the public.
Transitioning back to the recent findings in Spain, the following key elements involved in Operation Topera-Tuti suggest that the secret shooting gallery has already generated crime gun intelligence of value and can continue to do so into the future:
Dangerous organized criminals had been engaged in a pattern of trafficking war-grade weapons (e.g., assault rifles, submachine guns) to drug gangs for use in violent crimes.
The conduct was profitable with the firearms selling between €6,000–€11,000.
The marketing of weapons was conducted via secure messaging apps.
The clandestine shooting gallery was built for the long term; underground with basic tools to test weapons discreetly; and soundproofed with mattresses to avoid detection.
The criminals were mobile, and evidence was being spread across jurisdictions.
The bad news is that these elements reflect a highly mobile, lucrative, and dangerous criminal activity that has been ongoing for some time and built for the long term, rather than a single-day criminal event. Moreover, taken together they enable the conduct of sustained violent criminal activity involving the use of firearms.
The good news is that if approached strategically, locations such as the secret underground shooting gallery may hold a treasure trove - a gold mine - of forensic and CGI that can continue to generate crime-solving leads well into the future. From fired ammunition components (bullets and cartridge cases) left behind from test-firing - to other evidence holding DNA, latent fingerprints, and more, these veins of gold need to be tapped until dried up.
The strategic approach here is based on the presumption for example, that should the test fires left behind in the secret shooting gallery be collected and acquired by one of Spain’s IBIS® systems today, they would most probably connect to a matching piece of ballistic evidence entered into IBIS® from a future violent shooting thereby confirming the gun as part of Operation Topera-Tuti and the intelligence associated with it.
Expanding the Reach and Range of CGI
INTERPOL’s Ballistic Information Network, IBIN helps countries expand their CGI reach across international borders.
Using IBIS® technology, IBIN member countries can identify potential ballistic matches efficiently linking crimes, guns, and suspects across national borders.
For example, not long after it became operational in 2009, IBIN first proved its value where it counted most, on the streets of Portugal and Spain, where police were able to share and leverage their ballistic data through IBIN to develop two suspects in Spain who were responsible for a series of violent carjackings and a murder in Portugal. Discovering a link between these crimes would have been highly unlikely before IBIN was established.
INTERPOL member countries are encouraged to follow the IBIN Search Protocol and to conduct international ballistic comparisons for all ballistic recoveries:
Within 80 kilometers of international borders.
By customs or border officials.
From suspected traffickers of contraband (drugs, documents, guns, etc.).
Related to terrorist activities.
From persons with a residence in another country.
IBIN has 37 operational member countries accessing over 2 million crime-related ballistic data records. Non-IBIN member countries can access the system through INTERPOL by coordinating with their National Central Bureau.
Closing Discussion
Useful ballistics data in the form of fired cartridge cases and bullets and other CGI discharged from crime guns can be found abandoned in such places as on a piece of property where a criminal has conducted target practice in preparation for a mass shooting, to more formal locations such as secret training camps and target ranges used exclusively by organized criminal groups (e.g. gangs, cartels, terrorists and insurgents). These CGI-rich environments can be gold mines of CGI, tactically for the short term and strategically for the long term.
For example, ballistic data can help track the numbers and movements of specific firearms across a region or multiple regions. Over time, the collection and storage of this data will amass a formidable inventory of data that can help generate actionable intelligence, identify patterns, and recognize trends to help connect the shooting events and firearms associated with specific criminal and terrorist groups and design new strategies and tactics to deal with them.
For any organization wishing to take full tactical and strategic CGI advantage of such CGI-rich environments as Spain has uncovered, I suggest that you: First, speak with a customer experience manager from LeadsOnline - the developer and producer of the IBIS® technology to discuss the feasibility of the project in terms of resources and technical requirements. Second, collaborate and coordinate with appropriate agencies and departments on a plan of action to ensure the collection, processing, and production of useful data over the long term. Third, put in place the people, processes, and technology required to collect, analyze, and timely disseminate actionable intelligence to the agencies that need it.
Epilogue
This year marks the 16th anniversary of the public-private partnership between LeadsOnline (formerly Forensic Technology) and INTERPOL, leading to the creation of the INTERPOL Ballistic Information Network (IBIN) in 2009.
Happy Anniversary IBIN!
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Great article, Pete. Thanks.