Central Operative Unit

The Central Operative Unit (UCO) (Spanish: Unidad Central Operativa) is a specialized division of the Civil Guard of Spain responsible for the investigation and prosecution of the most serious forms of crime and organized crime, whether national or international, as well as support to the Territorial Units of Judicial Police, that, due to lack of personnel or resources, or because the criminal field is more than one autonomous communities, require the support of this Unit.

Central Operative Unit
Unidad Central Operativa
Emblem of the UCO
Logo
Service Badge
AbbreviationUCO
Agency overview
Formed1987
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionSpain
General nature
Sworn members550 agents[1]
Parent agencyCivil Guard

Functions

The main crimes that the UCO investigates are:[2]

Also, the UCO has the duty to realize investigations ordered by a judge, a court or a prosecutor.

Structure
  • Commander of the Unit (a Civil Guard Colonel).
    • Department of Technical and Operational Support.
    • Department of Criminal Investigation specialized in General Delinquency.
    • Department of Criminal Investigation specialized in Economic and Technological Delinquency.
    • Department of Criminal Investigation specialized in Drug Trafficking and Smuggling.
    • Unit attached to the Anti-Drug Special Attorney's Office.
    • Unit attached to the Anti-Corruption Special Attorney's Office.
    • Teams Against Organized Crime (ECO), six teams through the country.

Important cases
  • February 27, 1994. Release of Maria Àngels Feliu after 492 days kidnapped.
  • July 23, 2007. Arrest of Jaime Giménez Arbe (known as "The Loner") in Figueira da Foz, Portugal.
  • October 27, 2009. The dismantling of a corruption plot in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, in the so-called "Pretoria Case", in which the mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramanet and other former public officials were arrested.
  • October 27, 2014. The dismantling of a corruption plot called "Púnica Case".[3]
  • July 18, 2017. The dismantling of a corruption plot in the Royal Spanish Football Federation.[4]

See also

References
  1. Radiografía de la UCO: 550 agentes contra la corrupción en toda España
  2. Unidad Central Operativa
  3. Detenido Francisco Granados en una macrorredada contra la corrupción.
  4. Detenidos Ángel María Villar y su hijo Gorka en una operación anticorrupción.
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