Hello, how are you? A very warm greeting from Spain. And well, let me
introduce myself. Of course, I am José Luis Martín. I am a captain in the
Civil Guard. And well, in my current post I have been exclusively dedicated
to the control of drug precursors for more than 17 years, and perhaps more
recently also to the control of explosive precursors. Well, to be honest,
we have approached this course with a lot of enthusiasm. We have realized
that, in general, our training in this area is quite lacking, which is why
I believe it will be very exciting, enjoyable and productive to learn the
little that we can teach. Well, let's get started, and I would like to give
a couple of Remarks regarding the course in general and the subjects that I
will be teaching. In particular, drug trafficking and the illegal
manufacturing of drugs are constantly evolving, so we must adapt as quickly
as possible to the techniques and methods of illegal drug manufacturing.
What does that mean? It means cultivating us, reading, studying and
surrounding us with people who have more experience. Then, the second
connotation would be to take this as something generic. Why do I say
generic? Because the legislation is very different depending on the country
we are in. There may be countries with very similar, criminal, legislation
regarding the repression of drug trafficking, but, usually, there are quite
a few differences. What we have been able to discuss, for example, between
Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean is very different depending on
the country you are in, which is why we understand that something like this
should be taken as something global. Something generic that serves as a
culture for all of us. And, well, take it as such, I also want to ask for
your favour, and this is a personal favour. Surely you have experience, you
have operations, you have investigations that you have developed with new
things, with new issues that we do not know or that it is always good to
expose, which is why I invite you to the forum, at least in relation, to my
talks, to my subjects. Yes, please, let us have good feedback and keep
ourselves informed, because I am absolutely eager to learn new things, and
it is true that you as students can contribute many things to us. Well,
without further ado, let's move on to the content of this subject, which is
the methodology of inspection actions. What are we going to cover in it?
Well, let's go over everything we are going to do from the moment we plan
the inspection, through its preliminary study, its development and what we
will do afterwards. All right, we are going to detail all these things for
you. Now I understand that it is something very simple, but it is true that
one must have a certain criterion to be able to carry out an inspection
properly. Of course, before we start an inspection, we must have some
knowledge about the new drug manufacturing techniques and the emergence of
new chemical products in our region, and, if possible, orient our
inspection work in that direction, if we have the capacity to do so. That
is to say, if, for example, we have a new chemical that has not been used
in our region, our country, until now, we will focus the inspection work on
those companies that are using it, whether they are marketing it,
processing it or storing it, etc., etc., etc. Is that correct? Of course,
of course. Let's see, we are going to have a comparison of the seizures of
chemical products and drugs themselves, of course, that have been carried
out in our country. It is very important because it will determine what
type of drug is being illegally manufactured in our country and, above all,
the type of chemicals that are being used. Then we know that at the
international level, and, of course, at the national level, there are
substances that are regulated. We, for example, here in Spain and Europe,
are using the precursor lists from the 1988 United Nations Convention, and
those are the lists of regulated products that we are going to focus on.
There are many other products that are not regulated, which we will see, or
you may have already seen, that are almost as important as those that are
regulated. And we haven't even mentioned the new eco-active substances,
where we also have a huge problem similar to that with designer precursors,
that is, those precursors that are not on the list of regulated substances
but are created solely to replace regulated precursors. Agreed? Well, once
we have knowledge of our consumption and trafficking trends, we must
determine a risk. So, if for example we see that a lot of cocaine is being
produced in our country, then we might need to assess the risk associated
with the control of potassium permanganate, which is an oxidant commonly
used in the production of cocaine and is very, very strictly controlled at
the international level. In addition, to the example I have given you,
besides potassium permanganate, sulfuric acid, acetone, ethyl ether, methyl
ethyl ketone, toluene or hydrochloric acid can also be used in the
processes of cocaine manufacture, etc. Therefore, we must have prior
knowledge of what we are looking for. And of course, we achieve that
through our knowledge of drug consumption and trafficking trends in our
country. As we have said before, substances not subject to regulation, that
is, those used by criminals to replace those that are regulated are
increasingly numerous. The precursors that appeared years ago have little
to do with what appears today. Why? As mentioned, criminals seek
alternatives to already controlled products. By doing so, they attempt and
unfortunately often succeed to evade police controls, to avoid the
manufacture of drugs. So, well, we are always a little bit behind, which is
why we must always have extensive knowledge of the new trends in illicit
drug manufacturing. Well, now that we know perfectly well what drugs are
manufactured in our country and what type of precursors we have intervened
with, we have an idea of all that. What do we need now? Well, the next step
would be to get to know the operator, that is, to get to know the company,
the business that we are going to inspect. Why is it so important to know?
Well, because of course. We don't know if it is a legal company engaged in
illegal activity, do we? We assume so, because initially all the controls
suggest that it is. But it may be that the production or part of that
production of precursors or that trade of precursors is diverted towards an
illicit end. Be very careful with the chemical company, the pharmaceutical
company, because they are especially susceptible to being used for the
diversion of precursors. That is to say, it is not normal. But I, for
example, do know of cases in Spain and forgive me for referring to what I
know more intimately, where criminals buy perfectly legitimate companies to
dedicate them to their illicit activities. That is to say, we were given a
case of a company authorised to commercialise ephedrine which is a
precursor of methamphetamine and some criminals bought it. That ephedrine,
initially purchased legally, rewards a trade towards an illicit manufacture
that will take place in another country. Obviously, it is much simpler if
the company we have is legal, has all the permits and all the paperwork in
order, so it is essential to be very careful with this. We will also
monitor all types of companies and be very careful with companies involved
in transportation and storage as well. All right, let's move on to another
detail that we will see next let's see if we are able to determine the risk
posed by these companies. I repeat, before going to conduct the inspection
we must always have a thorough understanding of the company we are going to
face so to speak, that is to say, assuming that all companies initially
have a lawful purpose. Well, within the detailed study of the operator it
is important to know the police or judicial background of the company's
personnel starting from its board of directors and if we can gather data on
operators, warehouse workers, transporters and other types of workers who
perform any kind of activity Why? related to illegal drug trafficking we
need to be especially careful and much more thorough in the control of the
company. In other words, anyone can be a criminal not necessarily the
parties or the classes or the less qualified workers but anyone can be a
criminal and that is why I have explained to them the case that occurred in
Spain with a company where another company that reports frequent thefts or
frequent disappearances may be suspected of diverting those regulated
products into illicit trade that is to say it is not normal for a company
to report every so often that they have been robbed whether it's 50 litres
of hydrochloric then 150 of permanganate then 125 of acetone it is not
normal therefore, any number of reports related to thefts or disappearances
should alert us to the possibility of illegal activity Once we have those
repeated reports of theft and disappearances what do we need to do?
Therefore, investigate within our capabilities the people related to the
incidents the work shifts that coincide with the disappearances during
working hours at the time of those thefts the personnel who can be charged
with a lack of diligence or vigilance in those activities when the theft
occurs as well as any other abnormal circumstance that we can determine
regarding the history of sanctions or regulatory breaches It is also very
important to take into account the solvency of companies that is, a
completely reliable company, where we have not seen any breaches, where we
have not seen any irregularities where all the paperwork follows the rules,
where they are consistent and where they collaborate with us Evidently, the
risk profile of such a company will be infinitely lower than that of
another company that has been reported for irregularities is not diligent
in handling documentation and does not have adequate control of substances
Therefore, this is another risk profile that we need to assess Among the
signs we can assess when categorizing a company as likely to divert are the
failure to report suspicious transactions when required not reporting
thefts or disappearances when they have indeed occurred not properly
documenting commercial operations due to errors in the conception of
commercial or administrative documents being unable or unwilling to
identify suppliers or consumers and of course, when the stock is not
justified In other words, the stock we have to find on the day of
inspection does not match what should be there I always recommend and here
when we conduct courses in Spain, to the security forces and bodies, I
always tell them that if it is not a complex inspection where we have some
indication of illicit activity, it is always advisable to have prior
documentation We do plan to conduct an inspection of a company on the 15th
of August so a couple of weeks or a week before, we should ask that company
to provide us with documentation, especially regarding suppliers and
customers Why? Because if we show up at the company without having
requested anything beforehand we can end up taking forever and making our
work cumbersome as well as making the company's work cumbersome Therefore,
I recommend that whenever possible and there are no signs of criminal
activity always request the prior documentation from the company Therefore,
we will always look at the date of the operations to see what type of
precursors are involved in that commercial activity, their quantity and
concentration, and of course of course, identify the buyer and the seller
Well, we already have everything. We have already studied the problems we
have with drug trafficking in our region We know the sanctions from the
operator the police records We already have a list of clients and suppliers
and for what we are missing there might possibly be additional reports that
we cannot obtain because our agency does not generate them For example as a
police officer I might not have access to the tax data in my database so I
will have to ask the competent agency that does have it and if it is of
interest to me for the inspection to provide it to me For example, I do not
know the details of the employees of the companies so when I am going to
conduct an inspection and I suspect that the inspection has criminal
implications I write to the Ministry of Finance in Spain and say Listen,
Ministry of Finance please tell me which employees this company has and I
understand that if there is collaboration, if there is a good feeling if
there are obligations or collaboration between administrations they will
not make it easier and so any data we need whether from customs as I have
explained the tax control agency other security forces other public
agencies or even contact points in other countries especially in
neighboring countries where criminal activity may be spreading is important
I also encourage you that if you attend when you attend an international
meeting to connect with people build relationships with people besides it
is always worthwhile to interact with colleagues from other countries you
learn a lot and you establish relationships which is very, very, very
important well we have everything now we have even gathered additional
documentation from other agencies and now we are going to plan the
inspection action how are we going to plan an inspection well, logically we
need to form an inspection team let's see what type of inspections because
not all are the same and then how we are going to analyze the results of
that inspection well, let's detail it now well, I believe the inspection
team is one of the most important things it's crucial that you and your
fellow inspectors have a good rapport have complicity and don't need to be
told what each person has to do because we all have such coordination that
we practically do it automatically it's very important and this is achieved
obviously by conducting many inspections it should be composed of
individuals with proper training in terms of training we do not want them
to be university graduates nor to have a master's degree in international
security no, no, no what we want is for them to know about drug precursors
to have sufficient training and logically they must know and then the
national regulatory framework that affects them and of course we have an
international framework we have the United Nations there and in the case of
Latin America and the Caribbean we have the OAS true specialists true
prodigies in knowledge who enlighten us all which is why we must turn to
them in other words the inspection team must have extensive training I,
without intending to be pretentious would say that those who know the most
are the ones inspecting the companies agreed well, regarding a conventional
inspection how many people need to go to the inspection well obviously the
more of us that go the better, more security I also say that if we
frequently conduct a conventional inspection there might be a bit of a lack
of coordination I always recommend that the team for a conventional
inspection consists of three people three people one person could be
carrying out what we must always do another could be performing physical
inspection tasks of the company warehouses documentation and another could
be lending a hand by helping any of the other two colleagues agreed and it
is very important that those inspection teams and this is crucial if there
is any student with a leadership responsibility it is very important why?
as we have explained before there must be a certain level of communication
a certain feeling between them and complicity which is the most important
thing if a fixed team of three people conducts a lot of inspections by the
fifth or sixth inspection they do together everything will go much faster
everything will be much safer and the results will obviously be very well
we now have the inspection team formed and we will see later if we need
more or fewer agents depending on the type of inspections and now let's
take a look at the types of inspections we might encounter we have assessed
four types of inspections we have an inspection that is more of an
informative visit in which we will try to raise awareness and seek the
cooperation of those operators those companies we have a conventional
inspection because in our risk analysis we have seen that this year
potassium permanganate needs to be controlled more so we are going to carry
out inspections on all companies or a good portion of the companies a
certain percentage of those companies that use potassium permanganate the
third type is the extraordinary inspection 2001 where we believe there will
be non-compliance because in the preliminary study of the documentation we
have prepared do not add up so we will need to delve a little deeper into
this inspection and of course the last case of inspection is when we see
criminal indications criminal signs we are certain that this company that
this firm that this operator is diverting precursors to an illicit market
agreed well those are the four types of inspection the one that we are
going to do is to arrive in a courteous manner greet the company politely
and what we are going to seek is cooperation why because at least in my
case i have proven that we always find better cooperation with kind words
and friendly gestures rather than with a bit of bad temper it could be that
the company is new and we have an inspection visit to explain the
regulatory framework of course we are going to explain the consequences of
non-compliance that goes without saying but we must create a climate of
trust a climate of trust means that if you have any problem you call me you
communicate with me we talk we chat i explain to you don't waste time call
me on the phone send me an email and tell me what has happened of course we
must provide our contact details nowadays man a phone number is the same if
we don't have official phones then email is the most reliable way to keep
our identity hidden so well i always recommend that we identify ourselves
in some way and that we facilitate to that operator to that person we want
to create a climate of trust with by giving them our mode of communication
well now we are facing a conventional inspection we are no longer talking
about that informative visit where we are going to say hey it's really good
for you to cooperate with us because it can have repercussions and look
i'll give you my card call me when there is something well now we are at a
more advanced level what are we going to do we are conducting a
conventional inspection for example we see that we have not inspected a
company for five or six years in a long time since we last did so well that
would be a conventional inspection another thing we have determined is that
the dispatch of a certain situation needs to be more controlled as it would
be another conventional inspection in short the one that is routine but
well it is necessary to meet the minimum quality standards in this case
what will we do in this inspection we are going to check the validity of
the specifications that they must possess depending on the type of
substance and the quantities it may have one administrative use or another
we are going to verify that the declared use of the precursors is indeed
the actual use for example if i have piperanal to make fragrances i must go
there and check that fragrances are indeed being made with that piperanal
we are going to identify if we haven't done it before we are going to check
those suppliers and those customers we are also going to check those
purchases they have made and those sales and of course check the stock
stock is very important because if we determine the exact stock that should
be in a warehouse we will either dispel the suspicion of diversion or on
the contrary increase our suspicion of diversion for example if there
should be and i find there are only 36 then they obviously have to justify
where those 300 odd liters of hydrochloric acid are and that raises a
suspicion of diversion well as advice we should always draw up an
inspection report ensuring that our actions are recorded in an inspection
report which will then be signed by all the parties involved and of course
all the documentation that we collect must be studied not on site at that
moment we can do it in our offices and formally study it thoroughly agreed
well the third scenario would be an extraordinary inspection because we
have seen that there may be administrative breaches careful administrative
not criminal administrative well evidently the development of the
inspection will be sequentially the same as in a conventional inspection it
is going to be exactly the same but now i do recommend making force be more
numerous why because even so the documentation must be studied on site if
we see irregularities we should not get up from our chairs until we
determine what type of irregularities have been committed therefore in this
case we might need more personnel the last case we are going to look at is
that extraordinary inspection because we see criminal indications our work
there is very important because we are specialized personnel meaning very
few police units at least from what i know have truly specialized personnel
in precursors and we can accompany those police units that are going to
intervene because they have seen criminal indications agreed well in this
case besides the inspection team we need well primarily police personnel
who understand fiscal documentation who are knowledgeable about drug
trafficking of course and who have the legal capacity to make arrests
detentions and of course initiate a criminal investigation with the police
proceedings what will we address in the study of purchases and sales the
stock as well because it is there where we will fundamentally find the most
important indications of the diversion of precursors to an illicit market
either we or those specialist units in fiscal control or drug trafficking
must report to the public prosecutor's office and the judicial authority
depending on the sites it can also be due to specialization or territory
important as i mentioned earlier always draft an inspection report why
because in this case the inspection report can serve as documentary
evidence documentary we are going to report some very very objective facts
and we are going to see some documentation all of that can be attached as
documentary evidence it can be included as documentary evidence during the
oral trial phase or even during the police or judicial investigation well
finally we are going to end the day's session what shall we do well
logically we have said that we are going to conduct an inspection and that
we are also going to seize documentation we can usually handle that
documentation in our units unless we see some inflation at the moment and
need to be a bit more scrupulous once we have studied everything we will
file complaints or propose sanctions or directly impose sanctions if our
unit if our organization is competent to do so and of course there may be
cases where we have processed an inspection as conventional and it turns
out that we have to inform the judicial authority or the public
prosecutor's office so that they are aware of the situation and can
initiate judicial proceedings well friends that's about it I hope I haven't
bored you too much I remain attentive in the chat for anything that may
arise and well I send you my warmest regards from Spain please know that I
am at your complete disposal because we all learn from this a big hug and
have a happy day thank you very much