Spanish police have arrested 20 people in raids against a major Russian mafia gang, officials have said.

The suspects are accused of arms trafficking, money-laundering and contract killings, the officials said.

They were picked up in Madrid, the Balearic islands and the coastal resorts of Malaga and Marbella.

Judge Baltasar Garzon, who tried to jail former Chilean ruler Augusto Pinochet, led the investigation with aid from German, US and Russian police.

The suspects were using front companies to launder money from criminal activities in Russia and other former Soviet countries, the interior ministry said.

They were also suspected of drug trafficking and tax fraud, it said.

Spanish media reported that the group had started operating in Spain 12 years ago.

The suspects belonged to the Tamboskaya gang, after their hometown near St Petersburg, the ministry said, describing the group as one of the most powerful Russian mafia gangs.

More than 300 police officers carried out the raids.

Judge Baltasar Garzon began the investigation into the group in 2006.

(BBC)

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