Police seized knuckle-dusters and electric stun guns after arresting 14 Núcleo Nacional members on 6 November 2026. The operation covered Madrid, Asturias, Guadalajara, Valladolid, Pontevedra, Burgos and Alicante. Officers carried out 10 searches, including one at the group’s Madrid headquarters. Other reported seizures included bladed weapons, pyrotechnic material and Nazi or fascist propaganda. Ten detainees appeared before the Gijón court on 8 November; those released were placed under precautionary measures, including passport withdrawals and a ban on leaving Spain, according to reporting by EL PAÍS and the Asturias judiciary.
The investigation is being handled by Court of Instruction No. 1 in Gijón. Those under investigation face allegations of incitement to hatred, unlawful association and illegal possession of weapons; none has been convicted. The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Asturias said judicial secrecy was lifted after the arrests, while the police operation was still underway. EL PAÍS reported that police examined messages in which members discussed violence against mosques and synagogues, along with centres for unaccompanied minors.
The messages date the plans to 2024 and involve White Boys, a neo-Nazi group from Asturias with about a hundred members that was integrated into Núcleo Nacional. White Boys reportedly served as a recruitment base for the wider organization, whose members came from several Spanish provinces. In August, members discussed going to a mosque in Avilés. One message referred to group incinerations; another complained that the people they targeted had no organisation for them to attack.
In September, a White Boys member proposed locking worshippers inside a Muslim centre in Oviedo during prayers. Others discussed timing an action for Ramadan, when more people would be present. Days later, group members went to Gijón’s tourist office and loudly demanded directions to religious sites and centres for unaccompanied minors. According to the police chats described by EL PAÍS, they left singing an anti-Semitic threat.
White Boys also organised what its members called “hunting nights”: patrols intended to find and assault Black or brown people, or intercept people near hostels in Gijón, Avilés and Oviedo. Investigators say members preferred to arrive together and catch people by surprise. A chat from August 2024 discussed using pellet guns. Investigators warned that shots could cause serious injuries if they struck sensitive areas such as the eyes.
The group also targeted demonstrations. On 28 September 2024, its leader instructed members to disrupt a trade-union protest in Gijón attended by 1,700 people. The demonstration opposed the three-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed on six CGT members for coercion linked to a protest outside a Gijón bakery, in a case known as Los seis de la Suiza. Three Núcleo members, aged 16, 14 and 19, were arrested at the march.
Investigators believe Jesús R. posted photographs of intended targets from his balcony in a Núcleo WhatsApp group and stayed away from the protest to avoid responsibility. Among those arrested were spokesperson Iván Rico, alleged ideologue Isabel Peralta and long-standing far-right figure Enrique Lemus. Seven detainees whom investigators described as possible members of the organization’s leadership were initially due to be transferred to Asturias for questioning. Police investigators have also alleged that several Núcleo Nacional militants travelled to Ukraine in August 2026 for paramilitary training and weapons instruction. They allegedly aimed to prepare what members called an “armed uprising” in Spain. The arrests took place in Madrid, Asturias, Guadalajara, Valladolid, Pontevedra, Burgos and Alicante.
