At Sunday’s ‘Festividad de la Virgen del Pilar, Patrona de la Guardia Civil’ ceremony in Tarifa, two RGP officers were each presented with ‘The Order of Merit’ for their cross-frontier work alongside the Guardia Civil in money laundering and drug trafficking operations. 

A statement from the RGP follows below:

In front of a large audience, Chief Inspector Sean Perera and Detective Inspector Craig  Goldwin were particularly praised for their involvement in a number of international  operations carried out in 2019.  

These operations targeted members of a high profile Spanish crime syndicate which used  Gibraltar to carry out some of its money laundering operations and as a hiding place, out of  reach of the Guardia Civil.  

Following other Guardia Civil operations in Spain, a total of 103 individuals from this  Organised Crime Group were arrested, including all its senior figures. In addition, numerous  high value assets were seized. 

In the collaborative operation, the two RGP officers had been involved in a range of  activities, including intelligence-gathering, searches, arrests and the extradition of several  people from Gibraltar into Spain.  

The work of the two RGP officers was recognised at senior levels within the Guardia Civil but  the final approval for these awards to be presented to CI Perrera and DI Goldwin came from  Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Spanish Minister for the Interior.  

Richard Ullger, the Commissioner of Police attended the ceremony in Tarifa and, after the  event he said: 

‘My officers’ work was of international importance in the fight against drug trafficking and  money laundering and I am delighted that it has been formally recognised in this way by the  senior officers of the Guardia Civil. Indeed, the award of this medal is historic as it was  approved by the Minister of the Interior himself. Present at Sunday’s event were the  Director General of the Guardia Civil Maria Gamaz and the Coronel from the Comandancia 

of the Guardia Civil in Algeciras, who was instrumental in achieving these awards for the  RGP officers. They were full of praise for the excellent working relationship between the  RGP and the Guardia Civil.’