The Policia Nacional chief inspector in charge at the border has been suspended for five and a half months without employment or salary over disciplinary matters.
The officer in question has been at the centre of controversy in recent months after unilaterally ordering on several occasions that passports of Gibraltar residents should be stamped.
The move was at odds with interim measures in place pending the outcome of treaty negotiations, under which Gibraltar residents can cross after showing passports and red ID cards, but without being stamped in or out of the Schengen zone.
Conversely under those arrangements, Gibraltar immigration officials allow Spanish and EU nationals to enter with just an ID card.
The fear is that without those interim measures, tighter controls would lead to severe disruption for citizens travelling in both directions, even as negotiators say they are close to a deal that will guarantee post-Brexit border fluidity.
The chief inspector has challenged those interim measures in court and argued they breach Schengen rules, something Spain’s Ministry of the Interior rejects.
A La Linea magistrate yet to rule on the matter.
Now, the chief inspector has been suspended over disciplinary matters that predate recent unilateral decisions on stamping but relate to earlier actions taken by him at the border.
They include a decision to unilaterally rescind protocols for handling air passengers whose flights have been diverted to Malaga and who need to travel to or from the Spanish airport.
Another sanction relates to a decision to deny two British military personnel entry into Spain, while a third relates to his decision to have a radio antennae installed at the border without permission.
The suspension was first reported by Europa Sur but was confirmed to the Chronicle by a spokesperson for the Policia Nacional.
The disciplinary sanction can be appealed but is effective immediately in the interim.
