Editor’s Note
This report details a judicial investigation into alleged illegal arms trafficking from Bilbao, Spain, to Sierra Leone over two decades ago. Authorities are examining whether weapons were exchanged for so-called “blood diamonds” mined by enslaved workers, highlighting the enduring pursuit of accountability in complex international crimes.
Illegal arms trafficking from Bilbao to Africa to buy ‘blood diamonds’. The Police have asked a judge to investigate whether, over 20 years ago, military material left the port of the Basque city destined for a Sierra Leonean guerrilla group that used slaves in mines.
The trail of the so-called blood diamonds, precious stones extracted through slave labor in Sierra Leone’s mines to finance the civil war that ravaged this African country between March 1991 and January 2002, splashes onto Spain. The National Police have asked National Court judge Francisco de Jorge to investigate whether, between the late nineties and the early 2000s, “at least three shipments of weapons” camouflaged in the cargo of several ships transited through the port of Bilbao to equip the paramilitary group Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during the armed conflict that left more than 70,000 dead and 2.6 million displaced in this African country, according to an official letter from the General Information Commissariat (CGI) accessed by EL PAÍS.
The Police request falls within the summary proceedings opened in January 2022 by judge Alejandro Abascal, the first investigating judge in the case, after receiving a complaint filed by a Sierra Leonean citizen who had to work as a slave in a diamond mine exploited by the RUF. According to this complaint, presented by lawyer Hernán Garcés in coordination with the Swiss NGO Civitas Maxima, this victim had been “forced to work day and night alongside 300 other civilians in inhumane living conditions.” A Spanish businessman, Manuel Terrén Parcerisas, is charged in the case, arrested in Málaga in July last year accused of being the alleged “designer and coordinator of the business network” for laundering these diamonds in Europe and currently released on bail.
The claim also comes at a key moment. The National Court rejected on June 16th the request for dismissal filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which considered that the crimes under investigation had expired due to the time elapsed since they were committed.
In its official letter—presented to the judge on December 4th last year—the Police request opening a separate secret section within the same case to investigate the alleged transit through the Bilbao port of ammunition and anti-tank RPG grenades destined for the paramilitary group as crimes of arms trafficking, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The agents consider that “as a direct and necessary consequence of these payments, those persons involved in this ‘arms for diamonds’ transaction with the RUF were consciously favoring the existence of the civil war, the activity of this army, and, ultimately, the serious human rights violations committed there.”
Specifically, the agents ask the magistrate to request information from the director of the Port Authority of the port of Bilbao about possible shipments “with origin or transit” in these facilities “with subsequent destination or transit in Liberia [a country bordering Sierra Leone and from which the RUF guerrilla was supported] from 1997 to 2003.” And they demand identifying those ships whose cargo manifest declared transporting “mining machinery” or “excavators,” or that listed as responsible for the shipment or receipt of the goods any of the eight alleged suspects identified—including the investigated businessman, two other Spanish citizens and four Andorrans, plus an African—or any of the half-dozen companies allegedly linked to the network.
The new line of investigation proposed by the Police comes after protected witness 11/2024 testified before the judge for over two hours on June 18th last year. His testimony appears in the police report as “the most direct indication of the possible existence of an arms trafficking crime.” This person, whose identity remains secret, stated having been present or having firsthand knowledge of three negotiations for the exchange of arms for diamonds from Sierra Leone. And added that the shipments of war material were made from “the port of Bilbao to Liberia,” a country where two mining companies allegedly involved in the network had been established.
In his statement, he stated that one of the alleged suspects in the arms-for-diamonds exchange was known to him by the name “Micki” and provided a photograph of him. The Police, based on this image, have been able to identify the alleged intermediary as an Andorran citizen who at certain times resided in Spain. Investigators link this person to the shipment or receipt in Monrovia of more than 1.6 million euros in early 2000 transferred from Spain.
